Mighty Max (toyline)

Mighty Max
The original Mighty Max logo
Type Dolls
Company Bluebird Toys
Country United Kingdom
Availability 1992–1996

Mighty Max was a series of toys that were manufactured by Bluebird Toys PLC in the UK in 1992. The toys were similar to the earlier Polly Pocket toyline; however, these toys were marketed primarily towards young boys. In Canada and the USA, they were distributed by Irwin Toy Limited and Mattel Inc. respectively.[1][2] The original toyline consisted mainly of "Doom Zones" and "Horror Heads." "Doom Zones" were small playsets with a horror theme and featured miniature figurines of menacing creatures and the hero Max, a young boy with blond hair, jeans, a white t-shirt with a red "M" on it, and a baseball cap (the color varied based on the playset purchased) which also always had an "M" on it. The "Horror Heads" were smaller-sized playsets, also shaped like the heads of creatures and contained miniature figures. It was later adapted into a TV series, as well as a tie-in video game The Adventures of Mighty Max produced by Ocean Software for the Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis.

Story

The background story of the toys was as follows:

Max's dad left him his old baseball cap. Trouble was, this was no ordinary baseball cap..."Gotta look the business" Max thought as he tweaked the cap's peak round to the side. "AAAARGH!" Suddenly, the world had gone weird and very unfriendly! The cap had changed colour! Something very strange was going on! He'd been caught in the Horror Zone. Stumbling from one terrifying adventure to another with only cryptic clues to help him escape...he was all alone. He was scared. But he was MIGHTY MAX, and he'd get back somehow!

Mighty Max Conquers the Temple of Venom - closed
Mighty Max Conquers the Temple of Venom - open

Television series

The redesigned logo.

In 1993, an American animated series was created based on the toys. After the series began to air, the characters Virgil and Norman and toys based on episodes of the series were added to the toyline to form a new series. The story on the packaging was revised accordingly, and a short-lived comic book series by Marvel UK was created as well. The appearance of Max changed considerably; he was no longer portrayed as a young boy but as a taller adolescent with longer hair and an untucked shirt, similar to his portrayal in the television series. The older Doom Zones, Horror Heads and playsets were re-released with the original story replaced with the revised one:

Max was bright and pretty good at getting in and out of trouble, but he'd never forget the day he broke his Mom's mysterious old statue and found the Cosmic Cap inside. How was he to know it made him 'the Mighty One', able to travel instantly from place to place by means of time Portals? And how were Max, his Cosmic Cap and his two friends and protectors, wise old Virgil and fearless Norman gonna' measure up against the ultimate evil of the Skull Master!!?

Toys

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Some of the toys featured a short comic on the back of the packaging summarizing Max's adventure in that zone.

Doom Zones

    Series 1:

    • Slays the Doom Dragon
    • Trapped by Arachnoid
    • Terminates Wolfship 7
    • Liquidates the Ice Alien
    • Escapes from Skull Dungeon
    • Conquers the Temple of Venom (renamed to Conquers the Palace of Poison in North America)

    Series 2:

    • Saves the Kingdom of Gargantua (renamed Tangles With the Ape King in North America)
    • Grapples with Hellcat (renamed Grapples With Battle Cat in North America)
    • Outwits Cyclops
    • Stings the Scorpio (renamed Stings Scorpion in South Africa)
    • Blows Up Mutasaurus (renamed Blows Up Dino Lab in North America)
    • Caught in the Jaws of Doom (renamed Caught by the Man-Eater in North America)

    Series 3:

    • Sinks the Nautilus (also known as Sea Slug)
    • Bytes Cyberskull (also known as Cyro-Skull)
    • Squishes Fly
    • Traps Rattus
    • Lashes Lizard (also known as Lashes Geela Guts)
    • Grips the Hand (also known as Crushes the Hand)

    Some more information about the Doom Zones (Written by Himber from his play set website spectrumisgreen):

    • The available variants in the Doom Zones line include Wolf Ship 7 (two variants : light grey and green-blue), Scorpion, Ice Alien (called Fire Alien), Arachnoid, and Skull Dungeon. A prototype variant HellCat also exists (grey instead of purple).
    • The original 6 Doom Zones later came repackaged with a bonus Norman figure, and later issues of the 2nd series Doom Zones came packaged with a Bonus Hairy / Dread Head . Take a look at the packaging variations listing for more info..
    • Recently, package variations featuring 2 doom zones packaged together have appeared. Also discovered were some Mighty Max 3-packs with multiple Doom Zones and Horror Heads packaged together.

    Heroes & Villains

    A total of six figure sets were released, each including Max, Norman, Virgil and various villains and monsters. The first three were simply repaints of pre-existing figures that came with recent Doom Zones and Horror Heads as well as from a few of the bigger playsets. The second three, however, were all-new figures done in the style of the cartoon.

    • Featuring Skull Master
    • Featuring Lava Lord
    • Featuring Warmonger
    • Featuring Battle Conqueror
    • Featuring Medi-Evil Mauler
    • Featuring Pharaoh Phang

    Horror Heads

    • Mighty Max Against Droid Invader (renamed to Mighty Max Against Robot Invader in the USA)
    • Mighty Max Battles Skull Warrior
    • Mighty Max Challenges Lava Beast
    • Mighty Max Defeats Nightwing (renamed to Mighty Max Defeats Vamp Biter in the USA)
    • Mighty Max Fights Nuke Ranger
    • Mighty Max Neutralises Zomboid
    • Mighty Max Pulverizes Sea Squirm
    • Mighty Max Versus Kronosaur

    Series 2

    • Mighty Max Hammers Spike (renamed Mighty Max Hammers Ax Man in North America)
    • Mighty Max Hounds Werewolf
    • Mighty Max Survives Corpus
    • Mighty Max Tangles With Lockjaw
    • Mighty Max Zaps Beetlebrow (RARE)
    • Mighty Max Crushes Talon (renamed Mighty Max Crushes Clawber in North America)
    • Mighty Max Out-Freaks Freako (RARE)
    • Mighty Max Rams Rhesus 4 (renamed Mighty Max Rams Hydron in North America)

    Monster Heads

    These were playsets considerably smaller than even the Horror Heads, and did not actually open up. They each came with one monster/villain figure and a Max figure unique to that playset.

    • Zombie Commando and Jack Knife
    • Mecha Crawler and Octo-Slime
    • Gorillabat and Ape Warrior
    • Imperial Dragon and Samurai Serpent
    • Phantasm and Dr. Destiny
    • Basilisk and Zilard Beast

    Hairy Heads (also known as Dread Heads)

    Hairy Heads were only released on single cardbacks in the UK and Europe (where they were known as Scalps). In the US, they were called Dread Heads and released as bonuses with Doom Zones.

    • Hemlock
    • Karbon
    • Anthrax 9
    • Razorback (also known as Razor)
    • Garrotid
    • Eruptus (also known as Ruptus)
    • Berserker (also known as Serker)

    Electronic Games

    • Skull Krusher (also known as Crusher)

    Shrunken Heads

    The smallest Mighty Max playsets ever, the Shrunken Heads had little play value because of both their tiny size and lack of a detachable monster or villain figure to pit Max against (the majority of the Shrunken Heads did have an embossed and separately coloured monster as part of the molding on the wall or floor of the open set). However, the Shrunken Heads did come with a Max figure, and, like the Monster Heads, it was unique to that set. The first eight sets were original, while the remaining eight were based on episodes of the cartoon. The first eight originally came packaged in sets of two but later were released on separate cards by themselves. They were also available as cereal box prizes in some regions.

    • Bloodsucker (renamed Insectoid in North America)
    • Lobotix (renamed Brainface in North America)
    • Pharaoh's Curse (renamed Mummy King in North America)
    • Venom (renamed Wraptile in North America)
    • Rat Trap
    • Meltdown (renamed Head Case in North America)
    • Rok Monster
    • Vampyre
    • Skull Master
    • Dr. Zygote
    • Fang
    • Conqueror
    • Gargoyle
    • Necrosaur
    • Lava Lord
    • Doom

    Battle Warriors

    These were action figures which transformed into small playsets, based on the same principle as the Mighty Max Blasts Magus playset (see below) but on a much smaller scale.

    • Challenge #1 - Battle Conqueror (also known as Mighty Max Defeats the Conqueror)
    • Challenge #2 - Double Demon (also known as Mighty Max Head to Head With Hydra)
    • Challenge #3 - Lava Beast (also known as Mighty Max Melts Lava Beast)
    • Challenge #4 - Pharaoh Phang (also known as Mighty Max Strikes Fang)
    • Challenge #5 - Medi-Evil Mauler (also known as Mighty Max Shatters Gargoyle)
    • Challenge #6 - Megahert (also known as Mighty Max Shuts Down Cybot)

    Large-size playsets

    Several larger Mighty Max playsets were released across the years, often being significantly less portable in nature but coming with an increased figure count and more playability.

    It should be noted that Mighty Max Defies the Dread Star and Mighty Max Takes On Terror Talons are in fact the same playset, but came boxed differently and with different pieces. For instance, Dread Star featured a total of six alien villains, plus a "Skelemonster Robot" and a "Scavenger Vehicle." Terror Talons meanwhile had only five aliens, and no Scavenger Vehicle.

    • Mighty Max Blasts Magus
    • Mighty Max Defies the Dread Star
    • Mighty Max Takes On Terror Talons
    • Mighty Max Storms Dragon Island
    • Mighty Max Trapped In Skull Mountain
    • Mighty Max Assaults Skull Master Mega Head

    McDonalds Playsets

    Two Mighty Max playsets were released as part of McDonalds promotions. They are rather unique in that they are somewhat larger than a Horror Head but smaller than a Doom Zone, and come with no figures but instead have a unique feature inside. The 1993 Yeti playset has a Max figure that is fixed to the interior but can be rotated around with a dial, whereas the 1995 Ice Monster playset has a Max decoration that can be moved beneath a transparent surface to impact with two spinning Ice Monster decorations.

    • Totally Toy Holiday 93 "Boys" Mighty Max Playset[3] ('Yeti')
    • Totally Toy Holiday 95 Mighty Max Playset[4] ('Ice Monster')

    Watch Playsets

    • Lizard
    • Wolfship 7
    • Ice Alien
    • Skull Dungeon
    • Doom dragon (light green version)
    • Doom dragon (dark green version)

    Colour Variants

    A number of Mighty Max playsets were released throughout the different ranges featuring a different colour scheme - in some both the set and the figures are different colours, and in others only the set is different. Interestingly, although the name of the set and the box art is unchanged, the one exception to this rule is a black and red Ice Alien Doom Zone that was completely rebranded as Fire Alien.

    • Wolfship 7 blue and green interior
    • Wolfship 7 light grey exterior
    • Ice Alien black exterior and red interior (renamed Fire Alien)
    • Arachnoid brown
    • Rat trap black
    • Scorpion gold and purple
    • Skull Dungeon with gray face
    • Horror head Corpus green
    • Horror head Lockjaw blue
    • Horror head kronosaur red
    • Battle conqueror gold and red
    • Conqueror shrunken head brown
    • Skullmaster megahead with pure black wings
    • Insectoid shrunken head acid green variant color (renamed acidbuzz by Acidkaiju)

    Unreleased Playsets (Into The Battle Zone)

    A large number of 'Into The Battle Zone' sets were scheduled for release in 1996, but cancelled before release in the prototype phase. Due to the development that had already occurred, some relatively complete prototype models were in fact created and feature in the 1996 SKU List - the Warmonger and Doom Battle Fortresses in particular even appear in an officially released poster and a number of prototype models have been found in the hands of collectors and merchants, suggesting these were far closer to release than the others which for the most part remain elusive.

    Bold text below denotes a set for which at least one prototype model is known to exist, whereas italic text denotes a set which does not have an actual picture within the SKU List - suggesting that they did not even make it to the prototype phase. All the other sets in the list do have actual photos of prototypes featured within the SKU List, but it is unclear whether these models actually exist today.

    Battle Fortresses (Rebranded Mega Heads):

    • Warmonger
    • Doom

    Battle Warriors:

    • Arak
    • Bat
    • Bounty Hunter
    • Ninja Samurai
    • Norman
    • Nosferatu
    • Stegoman

    Battle Wheels:

    • Norman
    • Arak
    • Warmonger
    • Conqueror

    Battle Zones (Rebranded Doom Zones):

    • Mummy King
    • Piranha
    • Toad

    Battle Arenas:

    • Snake Pit

    Figure Packs:

    • Skull Masters Marauders
    • Norman's Heroes
    • Max's Avengers
    • The Dark Company
    • Unnamed Figure Pack #5
    • Unnamed Figure Pack #6
    • Unnamed Figure Pack #7

    Influence

    On the trail of the popular Mighty Max, other companies would soon implement the miniature playset style into their merchandise for properties including Star Wars, Godzilla, and Batman Forever. Such toys would often feature a character's head as the unfolded playset and an environment familiar to the property at hand (i.e. Batman's head unfolding to reveal the Batcave). Galoob's popular Micro Machines line already bore a similar scale to Mighty Max and created a variety of miniature Star Wars "head" playsets ranging in size. Playmates also introduced mini Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles playsets in 1994 and continued producing them the following year.[5]

    References

    1. ↑ Lawson, Carol (28 October 1993). "In Itty-Bitty Toys, Mega-Mega-Profits". The New York Times.
    2. ↑ Stevenson, Tom (19 October 1995). "Bluebird sets up Disney link xxxx Bluebird". The Independent. London.
    3. ↑ Pope, Hammond 1998: 84
    4. ↑ Pope, Hammond 1998: 169
    5. ↑ 1994 Playmates Toys Catalog NinjaTurtles.com. Retrieved on 12-13-08.

    Further reading

    • Pope, Gail; Keith Hammond (1998). Fast Food Toys. A Schiffer book for collectors (Expanded 2nd Edition with Updated Values ed.). Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. pp. 84, 169. ISBN 0-7643-0321-X.
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