Not sure how organic Karnock is under all that (or how mad). He does have a mouth and eats things so presumably it can water

I think the art is Bryan Hitch, not sure on the writer.

1980s Kinder Surprise Egg animal warriors - guys with the head of a lizard, wolf and crocodile with either a sword, spiked club or axe

Closer look. Notice the chest based on whiplash/buzz-off on the croc

The backs of the figures

The figures have great articulation, hard to believe they came in Kinder Eggs!

1980s Kinder Surprise Egg animal warriors! These awesome lil guys are fully articulated & armed for battle! More than a lil Masters of the Universe in them, the croc even has Buzz-Off/Whiplash’s chest! Came in multiple colours with multiple weapons. There was also a lion dude but I don’t have him

The Manta Ship arrives to take on the Black Barracuda whilst Red Venom attacks the Battle Fortress in a dick move

Karnock overplays his hand and attacks red Venom as well. Major Vex isn’t happy !

The humans join forces to drive off the hungry robots !

A slightly crap mailaway offer

2/2 We witness the arrival of the ever-hungry Mad Karnock and the start of the M.A.N.T.A. Force/Viper Squad alliance. Bluebird also tries to flog us a codebreaking kit with an incredibly tenuous connection to MF (couldn’t even be bothered to slap a MF logo on it, c’mon guys)

The Black Barracuda arrives at the Battle Fortress

Lt Monick (no, me neither) leads a redshirt-tastic team out to investigate and are surrounded by Karnoid robots

Red Venom arrives to take advantage of the distraction!

Mad Karnock announces himself and we witness the gruesome demise of poor Lt Monick!

1/2 M.A.N.T.A. Force Black Barracuda promo comic! As per usual it was bundled with some Black Barracudas & given away in shops and comics. Bluebird returned to Marvel for this introduction to the Karnoid range and it positively *screams* late 80s Marvel UK in a very good way

In league with Big Rescue - it’s Big Rescue Force! With dubious canonicity & even more dubious build quality BRF is the Rescue Force’s combined form. A bit of imagination is needed as it has no head or arms but I can see it being quite scary with his sinister faceless visage & grabby lil T.rex claws

They came out in 1992. Euro/Australasian exclusive recolours of Japanese exclusive toys.

Transformers Rescue Force Armoured Water Cannon! Y’know the things used for crowd control (what the toy catalogs say he is). A sticker book named him “Rescue Force 2” though my childhood name for him was “Squirt” (a more innocent time). The guns can mount in a few different ways

Transformers Rescue Force “Grapple Clawed Vehicle!” (his catalogue description). As a kid I named him “Snipper” & made him a snippy perfectionist. A sticker book named him Rescue Force 1. The claws are fun & useful in both modes. He sometimes stood in for a Hive Machine if my games went to Nebulos

The damaged Manta Ship lands and deploys M.A.N.T.A. Force - the Manta Hawks, Wolves and Sharks - to defend the mothership

Red Venom deploys its own fleet of attack vehicles and Major Vex is revealed to be in control of the stolen vessel

An add for the big shops and the new recolours of the M.A.N.T.A. Vehicles

🧵2/2 strips, the concurrently available Carnival books & the later Marvel special) Red Venom was presented as a stolen vessel in this comic. I’m not over fond of that story aspect (asking for trouble naming a hero ship “Red Venom”) & tend ignore it. Still, pretty art! Let battle commence!

Red Venom Strikes at M.A.N.T.A. Force comic cover - lovely art of Red Vevom attacking the Manta

M.A.N.T.A. Force launch Red Venom on Earth. Nobody points out how fate-temptingly unwise it is to name your new battleship “Red Venom” and make it snake-themed when your enemies are the FREAKING VIPER SQUAD!!!

Red Venom is caught in a Samaritan snare and and the captured vessel advanced on the Manta Ship

The battle is oddly represented by the Manta’s box art and a photo of Red Venom

🧵1/2 Red Venom Strikes at M.A.N.T.A. Force! This comic was packed with certain releases of Red Venom as well as being given away in toy shops and in some comics. At this time M.A.N.T.A. Force had a strip in the Eagle comic and this promo was produced by the Eagle team. Like most MF media (the Eagle-

Mon-Star, the main baddie from Silverhaeks, who I think looks a bit like Pete Butns

The Silverhawks eventually defeated Mon-Star by spinning him round, right round, like a record baby

Max and Norman are taken to Skullmaster’s “grim inner sanctum of evil” as Virgil, who slipped by the guard, watches from concealment. The Necrosaur dragon flies overhead. A large green monstrous visage can be seen in the rock face behind Skullmaster…

It is the Lord of Eternal Fire and he is hungry for sacrifice! He/it/whatever looks particularly badass when illuminated by the real working light-up dragon fire globes. Skullmaster is subservient to this being in the box comic though I can’t imagine Skully not betraying him/it once he has used the island’s dragon fire to reforge the Crystal of Souls

Virgil causes a distraction that allows Max to get aboard the Arrow of Death craft. Skullmaster mounts the Necrosaur and takes the sky after the Mighty One. Laser cannon vs dragon fire - who will win?

… actually make that laser cannon vs dragon fire AND a freaking A-bomb! Skullmaster has strapped an atom bomb to his ride and I’m sure he’s crazy enough to use it!

2/2 …There you’ll meet our host, the hideous Skullmaster, and be made comfortable (ok, sacrificed to an eldritch abomination in his sanctum of evil). Don’t fancy that? Then why not take a ride on The Arrow of Death? We promise a fiery Necrosaur dragon won’t try to drop a nuclear bomb on you 💣

1/2 Mighty Max Storms Dragon Island! Why not join me on a relaxing vacation to scenic Dragon Island? Our giant predatory sand slug will guide your landing craft in and our courteous & efficient Mutant Zillards will guide you to your spacious quarters (ok hellish pit full of mutilated corpses)…

Robo change Convertor 2 in 1 Robot ⬅️➡️ Spaceship box - silver endow box showing the gaudy toy inside

Instructions on the back

The Robo Change Convertors in robot mode. He’s lost Fitor’s optics but looks kinda cool eyeless

Spaceship mode. It’s A1!

Robo change Convertor 2 in 1 Robot ⬅️➡️ Spaceship! An oversized bootleg of Gobots Fitor. Not the best quality but I like how the ship mode becomes a little more shuttle-like than Fitor’s, er, fighter. Face looks oddly organic but I think that’s actually kinda cool

M.A.N.T.A. Force Manta Ship pack-in comic - The Manta Ship sets out to search for Earth’s twin planet !

After searching multiple words the Viper Squad stowaways hijack the Battle Copter and get into a skirmish with the Manta Hawks

An advert for M.A.N.T.A. Force

M.A.N.T.A. Force Manta Ship pack-in comic! This comic was produced by Marvel & packed with early Manta Ships & also given away as a promo. The story is pre-Red Venom so the Viper Squad are stowaways rather than an opposing army. Will Bluesky compress this into unreadability? Let’s find out!

Mighty Max Storms Dragon Island - beautiful art and feature call-outs

The back of the box which shows off all the cool things the set does

The side of the box features a comic which lovely art (I imagine Bluesky will compress it to unreadable but we shall see)

Part two of the comic. Was Skullmaster as finished as Max thought (spoiler alert - no)

Mighty Max Storms Dragon Island! Skullmaster’s mobile sanctuary is infested with vile monsters, traps & light-up perils. It advertises a “dragon roar mechanical sound effect” which is actually just the underwhelming sound of rasping ratchet joints (I thought mine was faulty!) #vintagetoytursday

They are taken to the Gutz to be digested in its villi to provide sustenance for Mad Karnock (though he doesn’t like the uniforms)

Transformers Rescue Bots Optimus Prime and Hot Shot pull-back toys

Optimus’ face sticking up out of the truck mode

Hot Shot sticking up out of the car mode

Sweet Autobot hubcaps

Today’s charity shop finds were these pull-back Rescue Bots thingies. Non-transforming but fun. I really like the Autobot symbol hubcaps. These were probably insultingly expensive new but not too bad for 50p each

M.A.N.T.A. Force Groundhog! Very similar to the Glutton (maybe a lil too similar) though Groundhog is sleeker with stingray-like fins & a cauldron-ish prisoner hold. Personally I’d have made them different colours so they’d look more unique. Like Glutton it can act as wheels for the Black Barracuda

M.A.N.T.A. Force Red Hawks - a trio of vehicles recoloured from the Manta Hawks vehicles from the Manta Ship. They are more changed than the other recoloured sets (all of which still share a plastic colour with the original Manta Ship vehicles) with every part a different colour. They use the red, yellow and black colour scheme of Red Venom

The “one man jet” (I’m often tempted to use the unofficial fanon name of “Red Lightning” as it’s much better). It really looks like a lil Red Venom which does make sense in-universe as Red Venom was originally stolen from M.A.N.T.A. by the Viper Squad

The mini turbo chopper - a red & yellow redeco of the Sky Skeeter - being piloted by Commander Quest

The “vertical take off rocket jet pack”(Really should have stuck with “Manjet”) - a VERY 60s jetpack with a huuuuuge central turbine

M.A.N.T.A. Force Red Hawks! At one point in the design process the mini turbo chopper, one man jet & vertical take off rocket jet pack were going to be given to the Viper Squad (the resemblance to Red Venom is intentional). They were swapped back to Manta in the end but kept the sweet Viper colours

Coleco Rambo & The Force of Freedon Nomad - an Arab dude in a tight sunny lemon shirt wields a knife and pistol. He has a cool watch

Nomad takes aim

Nomad straps on his slightly improbable weapon pack

Looking through the viewfinder

Coleco Rambo & The Force of Freedon Nomad! Great figure, powerful moustache, slightly dodgy stereotype. Has perhaps the nicest watch in all of action figuredom

M.A.N.T.A. Force The Manta Equaliser & The Viper Vapourizer box shows an image of the two cannons firing on a rocky moonscape. Considering it’s a two pack of firing cannons you’d think there’d be some sort of game/battle damage element but there isn’t (not even any of the break-apart wall pieces larger firing M.A.N.T.A. Force toys often came with

Top of the box which details some features of the set (shows they were a lil desperate as the listed “in-scale with Giant Manta Ship & Red Venom” as a feature)

The Vapourizer - a long black cannon in a purple base with red seat, radar dish and shells - stands ready to fire

The Equaliser, which is identical to the Vapourizer aside from the grey colour scheme. Really the only equalising it is likely to be doing is being equally likely to break

M.A.N.T.A. Force The Manta Equaliser & Viper Vapourizer! (weird mix of UK “vapoUr” with US “-izer”) Two insanely fragile identical long-range cannon emplacements. The radar, seats, mechanisms & cannon mounts will snap like dry twigs at the slightest provocation. I’m sure they were fun once though!

M.A.N.T.A Force decomposed Manta Men & Viper Squad - ten different ghoulish bodies to collect. They have been positively *butchered* - some missing arms & legs, some opened up to their guts and some melted into barely recognisable lumps of flesh

A close-up on five of them. Love the one that’s just a ribcage and legs

Five more. The one that’s just a blob with arms & legs is amazing. The skeletal dude at bottom right dude is covering his groin with one hand…

… and his ass with the other! (He’s now top right). Even the undersides of the fights are effed-up and gory!

M.A.N.T.A Force decomposed Manta Men & Viper Squad! The designers obviously had a hoot with these. 10 different agonisingly stench-mangled bodies to collect! Skeletal guy at bottom left is covering his groin & ass with his hands which is… yeah. What were the Stenchoids *doing* to their victims?

M.A.N.T.A. Force Hammer-Head - a blue bug-shaped robot with a red head & grumpy expression. A large rectangular protuberance sticks up out of its back

A Karnoid robot mounts itself on the column

And away they go, hunting for humans!

A brick wall is no match for Hammer-Head!

M.A.N.T.A. Force Hammer-Head! This adorable battering bug packs quite a punch! The head can ram through obstacles and enemies and is very satisfying to use on Manta Men, sending them flying!

Right up there with Telemocha Dinobot on the“has this deco artist actually SEEN the show?”-level of Takara’s tier of show accuracy

IIRC Shatner got quite narky with a cosplayer wearing this shirt.

LEGO Weetabix Racer! Excellent lil mailaway racing car from Weetabix cereal. Loved the tilting exhaust. Made a great pair with the dragster. Who will win?

M.A.N.T.A. Force Sling-Shot - a four-legged red robot with a large yellow wrecking ball with an evil robotic face on it

The launcher arm has lifted up making the wrecking ball look like a head on a long neck

The Slingshot with a Karnoid robot mounted on it

The wrecking ball has been launched at a Manta/Viper fortification, causing carnage! I’m pleased with the Karnoid looking through the hoop

M.A.N.T.A. Force Karnoid Sling-Shot! This quadrupedal catapult robot fires the big grinning Jack-O’Lantern wrecking ball with surprising force. I like lifting up the launching arm with the ball on it to look like a head on a long neck. The body ends up looking a lil dull once the ball is launched