RBT Mordles Figure Foto

Rocks & Bugs & Things: Mordles
The Mordles are coming! Doctor Kent is bringing the Mordles back to glorious life. [More info] [See prototype]

Rocks & Bugs & Things Figure Foto

Toy Line: Rocks & Bugs & Things

Sculpt Name: Mordle

Color: Maroon

Collector's Note: Mordles were essentially accessory figures in the RBT toy line, but they have stolen the show. They are hands down collectors' favorite aspect of the toy line. And in my opinion, they're some of the coolest mini-figures ever made. So simple, so cool. You can read more about RBT at the MXD RBT entry.

TRANSMUTAZORS

Name of Toy Line: Transmutazors
Production Company: Ideal
Distributor: unknown
Years of Production: unknown
Countries/Regions Available: Europe
Size/Scale: 1.5"
Figure Trade Markings: A or B, 1-40 / CHINA
Approximate # of Figures: 80

Details:

"Millions of years ago, Dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Now mutations are being
discovered all over the world having adapted to today's environment."

Thus goes the story of the Transmutazors, a line of zany dinosaur figures produced by Ideal. The toy line consists of a total of 80 figures; 40 dinosaur figures in their pre-mutazor form and 40 dinosaur figures in their post-mutazor form. The pre-mutated figures came in a variety of colors including orange, green, and dark gray, while the post-mutated figures came in a light gray color. They are composed of a firm yet easily bendable plastic material.

Dinosaurs that have evolved to survive in the madness that is 20th century human society? All-in-all, a pretty fun idea! Let's see how it translates into toy figures. Below we have a comparison image of a post-mutazor Hippy o'zor and his pre-mutazor form Iguanodon.



...unfortunately not the most attractive dinosaur toy sculpts you've ever seen, huh? We agree.

The 40 pre-mutated dino sculpts have the "A" trademark while the post-mutated dino sculpts are marked with the letter "B." The pre- and post-mutazor character sculpts share the same number, which makes matching the sculpt pairs together easier. For example, Iguanodon and Hippy o'zor bare the trade markings 18A and 18B respectively.

Let's take a peak at a few more figures.


Automobilozor


Pre-mutation Dimetrodon and Stegosaurus

The Stegosaurus figure isn't half bad, eh. And here's a group photo.




Credit Strontium Dog

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get our pre-mutated hands on any packaging, but we did manage to acquire a pamphlet with some instructions and great illustrations. The pamphlet informs the collector that one can paint ones TRANSMUTAZORS to look like the pictures in the pamphlet. That explains the light gray color of the mutated figures; it's easier to paint a light colored toy figure. There was also an accompanying card game which is always fun.

Let's have a look at the pamphlet, front and back.


Click to enlarge


Click to enlarge

Impressed by my coloring skills? I thought so. Here's some close up looks at a few of the cooler illustrations.







For more coverage of this quirky little toy line, including images of packaging and accessory books, check out the Transmutazors entry at Yowie Maggie.com.

As always, please contact us with any images or information we may be missing. Thanks!

FIGABULARY

Toy Line: Rocks & Bugs & Things | Mordles

Sculpt Name: Mordle

Color: Orange

P.E.T Aliens/Comic Aliens

Name of Toy Line: P.E.T (Pocketsize Extra Tiny) Aliens/Comic Aliens
Production Company: Seven Towns
Distributor: Vivid Imaginations, Ideal, Kellogs (UK), Quick (France)
Years of Production: 1993-1994
Countries/Regions Available: UK, France
Size/Scale: 1.5"
Figure Trade Markings: (c) Seven Towns / Quick
Approximate # of Figures: 26

Details: P.E.T Aliens were originally available in 1994 as a cereal premiums in the UK with Kellogs Rice Crispies. Later released in their own right (known as Comic Aliens in France) 22 standard figures were available, including the original cereal premiums. In 1995 six were available in France from Quick (fast food). You could get them in multi-figure blister packs, flying saucer single packs or blind single pack sachets. They can often be found on ebay, mislisted and grouped with Monster in My Pocket figures, particularly the Wrestlers and Sportstars in My Pocket. Here's a handful of P.E.T Aliens:



You may notice a less than passing resemblance to some well known characters, a booklet that came with the figures removes any doubt about who or what they are based on (how did they get away with it!?):



Each figure had a card with a picture and the details from the booklet. Surprisingly and rather unusually, the cards offered no game play.



As is often the case with painted mini-figures, the promotional material shows them finished to a much higher spec. There is even sculpt detail on "T.V. Eye" that did not make the final figure - notice the smoothness of the red figure's lips below as opposed to the picture:



As well as the figures the "Spacejunk Mothership" was also available, as shown in the booklet:



Four 'Commanders' are shown in the booklet, these figures differ from the standard aliens, each one in his own little spaceship.





I had yet to see actual toy figures until Trumanshower provided Toypedia with these great photo's from a French catalog:

Note the flying saucer packs, available in both the UK and France. Part of the packaging can be cut out to create a rather crude flying saucer toy!


Click to enlarge


Click to enlarge

LittleRubberGuys.com was lucky enough to have Timothy Young comment on the figures, he was working for Seven Towns at the time:

"PET (Pocket Extra Tiny) Aliens were created by Seven Towns, and licensed to Vivid Imaginations...sculpted by Bruce Attley and Sara Apply I was busy designing and sculpting Mini Boglins at the time. I sculpted a set of larger Pet Aliens that had lights and sounds. The storyline was that Aliens came to Earth and tried to blend in, but chose all of the wrong careers. They were set for wide release just before the Cereal promotion, but were then delayed for some reason and when they hit the stores they only had a few of the figures available. I designed and sculpted a second series (including the pizza alien...), but they were never produced. "

(You can join in the discussion at Little Rubber Guys here.)

It really is a shame that the second series wasn't released, here's a taster of what Timothy Young/Seven towns had in store:


Image courtesy of Timothy Young


Image courtesy of Timothy Young

Related Web sites

LittleRubberGuys P.E.T Aliens discussion

Timothy Young's Creatures & Characters

Quick Museum

Rocks & Bugs & Things: Mordles

Name of Toy Line: Rocks & Bugs & Things: Mordles
Production Company: Ideal (CBS Toy Company)



Years of Production: 1985
Countries/Regions Available: USA
Size/Scale: Approximately 1"
Figure Trade Markings: (c) CBS Inc. / One of the following: 1, 2, 2A, 3, 3B, 4, or 6B. (There are likely even more variations.)
Approximate # of Figures: 1-20

I have 3 of one of the blue sculpts and each has 3 different TMs: 1, 2, and 2A; and each figure -- though the same sculpt -- is a slightly different shade of blue.

Details: The Rocks & Bugs & Things toy line consisted of several rock and bug creatures that had moving parts. Each rock and bug toy could be purchased separately and came with its own "Mordle" figure that it could eat.



There were a total of ten unique Mordle sculpts, and 5 colors: red, blue, purple, yellow, and orange. Each of the ten sculpts unfortunately only came in one color: 2 sculpts came in yellow, 2 in red, 2 in blue, 2 in orange, and 2 in purple.

Here's a foto of a few of the rocks and bugs and Mordles!



Here's a close-up look at our heroes, the Mordles! You can see that each of the Mordles has minimal paints apps on their face, a light or dark blue.

The Mordles are made of a soft, high-quality plastic. They're solid little guys. Definitely one of my top 3 favorite mini-fig lines!







Here's a look at the packaging.



Here's a look at some of the nice images and artwork on the packaging.

Check out the first image below; among other things, it features pictures of two Mordle sculpts made in blue plastic -- one at the top of both pictures and one at the bottom.. It looks like they used them same 5 Mordles in both pictures. They are probably prototypes because interestingly, these two Mordle sculpts can now only be found in yellow and orange respectively. Or can they...



To see a larger version of the above image, click here!



Here's a look at some directions, which came with each toy.





Related Web sites:

Nathan's MUSCLE Page!: RBT Tribute Page

Virtual Toy Chest.com

Mini Boglins

Name of Toy Line: Mini Boglins
Production Company: Ideal
Distributor: Seven Towns
Years of Production: 1991 - 1994
Countries/Regions Available: UK, Italy
Size/Scale: Approximately 1"
Figure Trade Markings: none
Approximate # of Figures: Hundreds

Details: In 1991 Mini Boglins were released, as the name suggests miniature solid plastic versions of the original latex puppets. The line consisted of 36 sculpts split in to 6 equal groups, The Clumsies, The Freaks, The Greedies, The Jokers, The Rude Dudes and The Tough Guys. Each figure was originally available in blue, brown, yellow, grey, orange and dark green. Each group had a 'Cheif' bearing 3 horns that was available in all basic colors plus silver and a 'Pathfinder' also available in black. These black figures have been found in the normal softer plastic and also a rigid hard plastic.



An example of 1991 packaging:



The 1991 packaging had some very cool artwork on the back:



1992 saw some big changes in the Mini Boglins line. Sculpts were available in more colors and a further two tribes were added, The Disgustings and The Army Guys. Each group was given a 7th member: The 'Scout', a new sculpt also available as 'glow in the dark'! They can be found in two variations, one with a green was one with a lilac wash, it is currently unknown if the two versions were available simultaneously or if they were introduced at different times.



The Chiefs were also now available in gold:



An example of 1992 single figure blind packaging:



And the box stores displayed them in:



And the 1992 20-figure box:



If 1992 was big for Mini Boglins1994 was HUGE! Iniatialy two new tribes were added, now designed and sculpted by Timothy Young, the Medievals and The Prehistorics. A further 8th sculpt was added to each of the 10 tribes and some of the original sculpts were dropped and replaced with new ones. One member of each group was now known as The 'Spy' and was available in black like the original Pathfinders.

Then Mini Boglins changed from the original boxes and single blind packs to blister packs of 3 & 5 and even changed their name to Mini Boglins Tribes!



Two further tribes were introduced: The Rare Dudes (an assortment of sculpts from other tribes) and the Samurai:



Still in 1994, 4 new sculpts were introduced and these were exclusive to either the Mini Boglins Board Game based around a slime filled toilet or the slime filled toilet that was available stand alone. To date I have only seen these sculpts in bright blue and yellow. Packaging suggests they were also available in a slime filled skull but I have yet to see one. Here's pictures from the packaging of all three:

The blister packs also showed a 12-pack of caged boglins and a mail-away offer for the cage on its own:





If all that isn't enough in 1994 8 new sculpts were released (I told you 1994 was HUGE!) as premiums exclusively available in Kellogs Frosties (UK only). This new tribe known as the Cool Dudes were slightly smaller than standard Mini Boglins. Each sculpt was available in various neon colors and you may even have been lucky enough to find a limited edition GOLD (colored) Mini Boglin!



You will notice the similarity of some of these figures to original 1991 sculpts:

Here's a peek at yet another Mini Boglins store display.



Related Web sites

Mini Boglins Color Information Archive

Mini Boglins @ Yowie Maggi

Wolfgang's Mini Boglins Collectors Archive

Timothy Young's Creatures and Characters