Unidentified: Space Invaders suction figures

WHAT: I don't know the story behind these other than I've had them as long as I can remember. They originally belonged to my older brothers so I'm not sure exactly how or where they were sold. Each is a couple inches tall and made out of glow-in-the-dark rubber with suction cups on their backs so you can stick them to things. I have the six different kinds shown above--most of them appear to be creatures from the classic "Space Invaders" video game, although I'm not sure about the two guys in the middle. Has anyone else ever seen these before?

WHEN: Early-mid 1980s.

WHERE: N/A

WHO: N/A

Space Ace mini figures revisited

Shortly after I started this site I wrote about Space Ace mini figures from the early 1980s, which--despite having been sold as merchandise tied to the popular video game of the same name--is a line made up of bizarre Masters of the Universe-esque creatures that appear to actually have nothing to do with the game.

As you might have gathered by now, I dig obscure stuff. The stranger and more obscure, the better. So naturally these guys are right up my alley. Since my original post I acquired a handful more of them, so decided it was time to devote more blog space to these weirdos.

My personal favorite is the dude with the trident in the upper left of the photo above who looks like some sort of mollusk/sea creature warrior. But that's not to say I'm not a fan of the ornery-looking horned guy with the big helmet attached to his arm, too, who I believed is a character yanked from Blackstar. Or mister green Mickey Mouse-meets-He-Man. And of course there are the crappy charms of a couple of them in the bottom row whose faces look sort of blobby, with features that look like they didn't make it all the way there. Ah hell, I like 'em all.

As you can see in this photo from DragonsLairFans.com, these figures came packaged on a card marked "Space Ace Robot Playset" with 8 to a set in addition to a few little spaceships. Uh, these guys don't look like robots to me, but I guess kids weren't supposed to notice/care about that fact. Also, while the package artwork actually features characters from the Space Ace video game, as I mentioned above none of those characters are actually reflected in the figures.

photo from nijirain.com

To make the situation even stranger, the Space Ace figures bear a strong resemblance to monochromatic mini figures that were released bagged under the Blackstar name around the same time, even though the Blackstar figures are larger and actually different sculpts when you look close. As noted by LittleRubberGuys.com forum member in this thread:

Space Ace was a video game made by Don Bluth studios, which also made Dragon's Lair. It is completely unrelated to Blackstar, which was a cartoon made by Filmation. Both toys share a release date of 1984, although the Space Ace figure is unmarked. The characters and molds used for both sets of figures is completely different, although I can understand why they are confused. The Blackstar mini-figure set features 6 villains from the series; Overlord, Kadray, Palace Guard, Neptul, Tongo, and Gargo. I don't know if the Space Ace figures have names, but I don't think they do.

Is there any relation between the Space Ace mini figures and Blackstar mini figures? Were they sculpted by the same person? Produced by the same company? Why were these characters used for Space Ace video game merchandise? Does anyone know? Does anyone care? These, my friends, are questions for the ages.

In any case, there you have it. Space Ace mini figures--some of the weirdest of all the little weirdos.

Mono Minis of the Day: 6/16/13 to 6/23/13

Here's the latest batch of the LittleWeirdos "Mono Minis of the Day." As mentioned in this post, Mono Mini of the Day is something I started doing earlier this month on the LittleWeirdos Instagram (@Little_Weirdos7), just for the fun of it as another way to show off cool monochromatic "little rubber guys." Every 8 days I am compiling the most recent figures highlighted and posting them here.

The lineup of freaks and weirdos this time consists of:

1. Medusa from Monster in My Pocket
2. Multiskull from OMFG
3. Unnamed fish wrestler dude from Musclemania
4. Chienowa Man from Kinnikuman
5. Sleepy from Lucky Yuckies vending figures (Gegege No Kitaro bootleg)
6. Cedargief from Universe of Violence
7. Unnamed crazy devil dude from Terrible Monster/Monsters & Goblins
8. Dril from Mini Boglins

What do you think of these mono minis?

Diener Space Creatures: Pink/glow swirl from MonsterIsland

Space Creatures from MonsterIsland

Original Diener Space Creatures

As you might have read in past posts, I recently started a Little Weirdos Instagram account. Much to the disapproval of my bank account, it has become yet another outlet for me finding cool toys I want to buy. See the beauties in the first photo above for exhibit A, which I saw posted by user monsterisland. They are new versions of the classic Diener Space Creatures (the original figures shown in the second photo), made in clear pink/glow swirl resin. How cool is that? I don't get into a lot of resin stuff, but this new take on the freaky Diener dudes was way too great to pass up. And not only do they look awesome in the light, they glow REALLY strongly in the dark.

MonsterIsland also created and sold these, through the store at monsterisland.bigcartel.com. The bag of four creatures cost $15, which I thought was incredibly reasonable as custom toys go. The site currently says sold out, but who knows--maybe they'll make a reappearance. At least there will be different figures in the same style to come, as the store teases "next up aliens and space ships."

Mono Minis of the Day: 6/8/13 to 6/15/13

So, I've decided to start a new feature just for fun, and as another way to highlight cool toys.

About a week ago on Instagram (you can find me @Little_Weirdos7 if you aren't following already), I began posting a pic of a single monochromatic mini figure every day as the "Mono Mini of the Day" (among the other stuff I upload there). This includes popular stuff such as Monster in My Pocket and M.U.S.C.L.E. to the obscurest of the obscure mono minis. Then, every 8 days I will compile the most recent Mono Minis of the Day and post them here as well, in one of those fancy collages like you see above.

Here are the figures included in the first roundup (top row left to right, bottom row left to right):

1. Pirate figure from Yolanda, a Spanish company
2. The Ape from Z.O.M.B.I.E.
3. Sunshine (#64) from M.U.S.C.L.E.
4. Wrapper Ghost, companion figure from Kenner's The Real Ghostbusters action figure line
5. Veined Cranium Creature from Diener Space Creatures
6. Vampiress from Vampires by HEI
7. Red Demon from DFC fantasy playset
8. Hipopos from Neclos Fortress

Monster in My Pocket: Juguete Halloween Peruvian premiums

juguete halloween premiums compared with their standard MIMP counterparts

wrappers that the juguete halloween figures came in, along with chocolate

WHAT: If you're like me and you've spent too much time researching mini figure lines, you're probably aware that items related to Monster in My Pocket have been released in many different countries over the years. Some of these items have unique/strange characteristics in comparison to the original, standard release of Matchbox's MIMP figures. One example of this is the extra-mini monsters pictured above, released as "Juguete Halloween." These figures are Peruvian versions of MIMP figures that came blind bagged as toy premiums along with chocolate, featuring sculpts based on the Matchbox figures, but smaller and in some cases significantly modified (check out Cockatrice's head on the Winged Panther! Or the Beast's head on Tengu!). They are kinda funny-looking but I dig 'em--they're a cool little section of the MIMP universe.

I am pretty sure these premiums came in five colors: Black, orange, purple, red and yellow.

And with the following monsters making up a set: Mummy, Vampiress, Ghost, Tengu, Medusa, Witch, Kali, Werewolf, Bigfoot, Karnak, Cyclops, Triton, Cerberus, Great Beast, Winged Panther, Skeleton, Harpy.

WHEN: These particular figures were offered fairly recently, around 2010, but I believe the mini Peruvian MIMP sculpts have been around since the 1990s.

WHERE: Peru

WHO: Produced by a company called Cremino.

RetroBots to the rescue

You might remember a few months back I wrote about RetroBots, little plastic vending machine robot figures that have turned up over the past couple years. Well, Bill Murphy, founder of Fresh Monkey Fiction, tipped me off to some really cool things they're doing with RetroBots that I wanted to share.

First, FMF is using the bots to raise relief funds for those affected by the Oklahoma tornado disaster that struck on May 21st.

Starting May 23rd, the site began offering a RetroBots downloadable desktop wallpaper for $1, with 100% of the proceeds being split between the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and United Way of Central Oklahoma. The wallpaper, shown at the top of this post, features a shot by photographer Danny Neumann. Those who make a donation up until July 31st will be automatically entered to win the custom RetroBots figure by Airmax Animated shown to the right, or if you made a donation to a charity directly you can forward the confirmation to freshmonkeyfiction@gmail.com to be entered to win.

Additionally, FMF is running a series of charity auctions using RetroBots items throughout the year in order to raise funds for The Young Storytellers Foundation, which focuses on developing literacy through storytelling. Each month for the rest of the year will include an auction featuring RetroBots custom figures, art prints and photography. First up will be figures from toy customizer Ersico, up for auction starting June 17th. Take a look at Ersico's RetroBots customs below and keep an eye on FMF's eBay page. Other upcoming auctions will feature contributions from the likes of Cantina Dan, October Toys, Monsterforge and more.

Check out FreshMonkeyFiction.com for more on these efforts. Nice work, FMF!

*All photos in this article supplied by Fresh Monkey Fiction.

Another Handful of Heroes

For some reason, just when I assumed they had fizzled out for good, Hasbro's Marvel Universe Handful of Heroes mini figures recently returned to store shelves. This time at Target, a place I don't recall seeing them before this year. Ever since a few months ago I've seen the line repeatedly at multiple Target stores, so I guess they've all been getting pretty well stocked with these guys. As far as I know there aren't any new figures that weren't already out a couple years ago--just previously-released Wave 2 sculpts--but seeing them again brought the line back into my consciousness and caused me to take a closer look at them than I had before. I couldn't resist picking up another pack or two, which contained the transparent figures pictured above, among others.

Handful of Heroes will probably never rank as one of my all-time favorites, but there are definitely some cool sculpts--and when you think about it, the line is pretty significant for being one of the few mainstream monochromatic mini figure lines from recent years. It's a shame that, as far as I know, we won't be seeing any sculpts beyond Wave 2 as there are many more characters in the Marvel Universe that would make great mini figures. But who knows, maybe Hasbro is testing how they do at Target, and if they sell well enough, would consider continuing the line.