Star Wars Action Fleet Rancor

Another flea market find: a 1996 Star Wars Action Fleet Rancor!

The Rancor has long been a favorite Star Wars monster. I had the original and loved every minute of him when I was a kid,

Like with the original, this mini Rancor can 'swallow' an in scale Gammorean Guard or whomever is unfortunate enough to fall into his pit.

Move his arm up and down and his mouth moves to match.

Mini Rancor also has a rear...umm...trap door...to release the figures. Not as graphic as it sounds, his hinged tail merely acts as a hatch and you can remove whatever folks he's swallowed.

The only other Action Fleet anything I own is the Slave I, but I gave that to my daughter, so I didn't have it on hand for this photo shoot. Fortunately a Galaxy Laser Team Buck Gordon was around to join in the fun! PEW PEW PEW!

Galaxy Laser Team :: New and SUPER-SIZED! :: by Tim Mee

This may look like your average Galaxy Laser Team (aka Star Patrol) line-up. But look closer...

These are the JUMBO Galaxy Laser Team figures! And they're BRAND NEW and available now on Amazon from Tim Mee!*

Galaxy Laser Team figures have quite a history with my generation. A rag-tag group of little plastic also-rans tossed in a baggie in order to cash in on the Star Wars fervor of the late seventies and early eighties, these simple 'little green army men' figures now enjoy their own legendary status with 'men of a certain age.'

They were released in various sets under various names, and they hung on the generic/cheap toy aisles of grocery and dollar stores everywhere. You probably had some. I sure did!

But it was only within the past few years that I learned they had also made jumbo versions of these goof(space)balls too. I'd never seen the jumbo figures in person, they are rather hard to come by in the wild, and I certainly never expected them to be re-issued (lost molds, defunct factories, etc etc) when incredibly I did find an original jumbo Lobstrocity a few months back.

And now they're back in print. Move over Alanis Morriset, THAT'S ironic!

This laser toting space cowboy is clearly the hero of our team. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Buck Rogers. He filled in for all of them when the Director yelled 'CUT! Bring in the double!'

"One small step for little plastic men, one giant leap for little plastic mankind!"

The star of the Galaxy Laser Team in my opinion, and the only one not based on any pre-existing pop culture icon, is the guy I have dubbed The Lobstrocity. I just love this guy, and now I have TWO jumbo versions! Life is good.

Not until I got this jumbo astronaut did I realize he was probably originally from a set that included a lunar lander/ladder, which he was obviously designed to grip on to. Or perhaps he came with a flag originally, in order to claim this planet in the name of Earth. Isn't that lovely?

The 'R2' of the Team is this guy. Oh wait, he's not round, he's square. No resemblance. The larger version has an antenna, because more room for detail!

This baddie is clearly based on Darth Vader. I'll call him 'Ralph Nader.' His TIE-Fighter is unsafe at any speed!

Finally there's the mom-jean-clad wonky Wookie: 'ChoMama.'

The Jumbo Galaxy Laser Team figure set doesn't include the entire original sized character selection (missing is another astronaut and the girl with the computer panel.) But they are all sorts of nostalgic awesome, and it's really cool seeing them in super-sized mode! Especially the Lobstrocity. Man I love that weirdo!


*Toyriffic was sent this set for review from the manufacturer. You can get yours at Amazon.

Galaxy Laser Team Lobstrosity

Another 'Holy Grail' enters my collection today as I am now the proud owner of an oversized Galaxy Laser Team Lobster Alien (aka The Lobstrosity!)

I have been a fan of The Lobstrosity ever since owning the original Galaxy Laser Team set released in the late seventies/early eighties. I no longer have any of my originals, but the figure on the right is a modern re-issue of those same figures I had as a kid. Tim Mee has been reissuing the Galaxy Laser Team in multiple colors over the past few years, and if you don't already have some I highly recommend them. The figure on the left is Zip - a freebie figure released in boxes of Screamin' Yellow Zonkers sometime in the mid eighties. I remember begging my Mom to get Screamin' Yellow Zonkers (of which I could have cared less for - except for the toys) in the hope that I would get Zip. I would have eaten fifty boxes of thast crap to get him, but thankfully he was in the first (and only) box we got! This Zip is not my original but one I found at the Flea Market a couple years ago.

And of course the silver figure in the center is the newest addition to my collection, a toy I did not even know existed when I was a kid! And of course he was found at the Flea Market this weekend for only a dollar!

A few years back I learned that the Galaxy Laser Team figures were bootlegged (in a larger format) in Mexico - maybe in the late eighties? - and ever since I have longed to add a large Lobstrosity to my collection. He was definitely a 'Holy Grail' on my wishlist, and a toy I had secretly hoped the Flea Market would eventually yield. Patience pays off, as I not only found him, but he is in miraculously great shape, and he's a spiffy silver and not some other boring color.

I not only love having so many Lobstrosities, but I love having three different versions of the same obscure no-name random alien creature. Just the fact that three versions of this character exist makes me happy. Because - WTF?!?! I mean there are still mainstream superheroes that have less than three versions of themselves in toy form, yet here's some random plastic alien creature who somehow beat the odds to rise from nothingness to stardom. The inclusion of Zip in the Screamin' Yellow Zonkers has always had me scratching my head, as there is no reason this alien design should exist in two separate toy lines (if you can even call a snack pack-in a 'toy line.') He's also a bit 'chibi' in his design, while the oversized Lobstrosity is just the original version scaled up.

While shooting these pics, my intern insisted we take the Lobstrosities outside so she could blow bubbles for them.

She is as enamored by these quirky aliens as I am!

I also have the re-releases in grey and black, but they were not within arms' reach when I started this photo shoot.

'I am King of the Lobster People! Take us to your leader.'

'They call me 'stumpy.'

'It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!'

I tried to get some shot of the Lostrosities engulfed in bubbles, but Lawrence Welk my Intern is not.

Here she is counting them and naming off their different colors. I'd be lost without her.

'Izzat so? Well then howzabout a raise?'

'Wait, what? Interns don't get paid?!?!'

'Well then, I'm leaving with these nice alien folk. Good thing I'm already wearing my moon boots.'

Attack Of The Galaxy Laser Phantom Clone Menace Team Strikes Back Part 2 Electric Bugaloo!

Tim Mee does it again - this time releasing their famous Galaxy Laser Team in four new colors - two colors per pack - with a red and orange pack and a blue and green pack available now to add to your classic collection or to your recently re-released black and grey Galaxy Laser Team collection!

I just went ahead and mixed both new packs together in this photoshoot - in part because my intern was helping and I had to move as fast as possible to prevent all the shots ending up like this one:

...but that's ok. The multiple colors look great together and remind me of my childhood and all the fun monochromatic plastic figures of varying themes I used to mix together and play with for hours on the living room floor or backyard.

Just like with the originals, as well as with the recent black/grey re-release, these new packs feature all the characters you grew up with. The boxy R2 knockoff, the go-go boot clad Darth Vader knockoff, the Uhura wannabe with space-aged cash register, a couple sixties era astronauts, a Chewbacca in cut-offs, Buck Rodgers via Han Solo, and of course the Lobstrocity turtle/lobster aliens.

The sculpts are as beautifully crisp as ever, and these fun new colors really pop.

I wish I had held on to some of the originals I owned as a kid. In fact, I know many survived at my parents' house until only a couple years ago. But a cousin had a house fire, so my mom gave her kids a bunch of random toys to replace some of what was lost, and I think my original GLT figures ended up going to that  good cause. I can live with that, especially since I am able to collect all these new versions today!

"'Harmless space-secretary' my almost-visible-in-this-tiny-skirted ass! Ask me what this button does again...I DARE YOU!"

 Each bag comes with fifty pieces: forty eight characters and two X-wing slash F-16s. Twenty five in each color for each two color bag.

I honestly can't decide which color set I like best. The red and orange are all lava solar spacey, while the blue and green feel more retro little plastic figuriny. Thankfully I have them all, and the black and grey set too, so I don't have to decide.

I think my intern prefers the blue and green set.

The Lobstrocity is my favorite character of the bunch, and is the reason I got a set when they were originally released in my youth. He's just so strange, I love him and the fact that, unlike every other piece in the set, this guy has no known popular sci-fi analogue. I wish someone could track down the man (or woman) who designed this character and give them their due credit for creating, in my opinion, one of the most intriguing aliens in sci-fi toy history.

Get on it, internet!

And stay tuned all this week for more awesome Tim Mee goodness. I got a bunch of new stuff to show you!

LOEB :: For Screaming (Yellow Zonkers) Out Loud...WHY?!?!

This week's League of Extraordinary Bloggers assignment is simply 'Why? No really. WHY?'

My 'why' is a legitimate question, one that as yet has no resolution, but one that carries the weight of a million, nay a billion cries of 'WHY?!?!?!'. In fact, my 'why' brings forth a toy mystery so deep and wide that it may someday rival the legend of Wonderbread He-Man himself.

To wit: Why did Screaming Yellow Zonkers make their own version of the Galaxy Laser Team Lobstrosity? 

I will go so far as to say the Galaxy Laser Team Lobster/Turtle hybrid alien monster is one of the coolest unsung aliens of our generation. First appearing in the late seventies or early eighties, this turtle lobster alien has taken on legendary status with toy collectors, being the only original (read: not Star Wars or Star Trek knock-off) character to appear in Tim Mee's Galaxy Laser Team - a set of cheap monochromatic plastic figures who all had very obvious Star Wars (or in the case of the lady, Star Trek) analogues.

That alone would be enough to give the Lobstrosity legendary status for kids who grew up in the height of the original trilogy madness, but it didn't end there. Somehow the design also made it's way into a line of freebies released in the mid eighties inside the Cracker Jack wannabe Screaming Yellow Zonkers - in the form of an alien named 'Zip.'

(For those not saavy, the Galaxy Laser Team Lobstrocities are on the left and right, and the Screaming Yellow Zonkers' Zip is in the middle.)

I don't know how or why this design made it from GLT to SYZ, but I would really love to find out. Was the same toy designer involved in both productions? Was the Screaming Yellow Zonkers designer a closet fan of Galaxy Laser Team? Or was he a rip-off artist who had a deadline to meet and no fresh ideas? My money is on the same designer being involved in both, and figuring no one would ever notice or care that he used the same design twice. Well he was wrong, I CARE!

I wouldn't even know where to begin if I thought I could solve this mystery myself, but I would sure love to someday know why the GLT Lobstrocity ended up chibi-ized in the Screamin' Yellow Zonkers' line-up as a critter named 'Zip.'

At least he finally got a name.

Other LOEBers ask why? Why? WHY?!?!?!

Return of the Galaxy Laser Team Strikes Back!

Boasting a supernova lineup that included Darth Vader in go-go boots, Chewbacca in cutoff jeans, a Luke slash Han slash Buck Rogers character, a not quite Lieutenant Uhura, a kinda sorta R2-D2, an X-F-16-Wing Fighter Jet-Spaceship, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong respectively, and last but certainly not least the most famous Lobster Turtle Alien of all, these little plastic figures ala Green Army Men, released under the banner 'Galaxy Laser Team' and 'Star Patrol,' are arguably the most well known, well remembered and well loved Star Wars knockoff toys of all time.

Manufactured by Tim Mee and reported to have first hit the scene in 1978 (according to an article in 'Playset Magazine' issue 52), these simple little packaged space adventurers were available through the early eighties, were released in 5" jumbo size in 1979, saw print in a comic called 'El Pueblo Perdido del Espacio' in an Argentinian publication called Ekaton in 1980, were ripped off by Screamin' Yellow Zonkers in the mid eighties, and even saw a re-release sometime in the nineties...and now in 2012, just in time for the end of the world...they're back!

If you were a kid in the late seventies or early eighties, chances are you had some of these guys in your toy box. Like the ubiquitous plastic Army Men, dinosaurs and Cowboys and Indians, these things seemed to just appear (and disappear) from kids' collections all through the eighties, as if some Galaxy Laser Fairy was shuffling them around the world. And if you, like me, somehow lost track of yours over the years then rejoice, because now you can get a brand new pack made from the original molds by the original manufacturer right here in the good old US of A!

And this time you don't have to deal with gaudy neon pink and green, because the reissues are made in awesome manly black and grey!

Manly!

Toy moments like these are rare indeed, and we can all thank Jeff Imell of Victorybuy.com:

"I've offered various plastic army men for sale online since about 2002. A few years ago, I purchased some of the final production run soldiers from the folks that bought Tim Mee. I was frustrated by the lack of US made figures and declining quality of many of the less expensive imported figures, so I kept in touch with the company and was eventually able to get a small production run of the classic Tim Mee Vietnam Era soldiers manufactured in the fall of 2011. During this process, I found out they still had some other figure molds, but wasn't offered much info as to what they had, other than some tiny catalog pics of bagged figures with generic descriptions. I began doing research on figures Tim Mee had produced in the past, so I could get a better idea about what molds they might still have. While doing research on the Internet, I found a couple of blogs about the space figures and was immediately hooked. I knew that the Galaxy Laser Team had to be the next set of Tim Mee figures to resurrect, and was finally able to get them manufactured this spring."

As for these figures themselves, they are as great as I remember them. The figures are crisply detailed and the plastic is high quality. They'll easily stand up to kids play and your own play for years to come. If you owned these in the past you owe it to yourself to buy a new pack (especially since the old figures tend to be a little pricey on eBay etc.) If you've never owned them, you should! If your kids don't know the awesomeness that is simple monochromatic plastic figurines, then they need to put down the X-Box controller and take a pile of these out to the lawn.

They come in a package of 48 (six of each character, three in each color) with two X-F-16-Wing fighters.

Thanks Jeff, your efforts are truly appreciated by this old toy collector!

If you want your own: Buy your Galaxy Laser Team reissues now at Amazon!