Lost In Space - The Classic Series (Toy Island)

Lost In Space - The Classic Series
Toy Island
1997

Lots of robots cropping up here at The Toy Box as of late. Not necessarily a bad thing - Unless of course you despise robots.

Lost in Space began its iconic climb to cult classic status in 1965 when the original black and white television series aired (shifting to color with season 2). Though it only lasted for three seasons, its impact on science fiction and pop culture in general has definitely left a lasting mark.

"Danger, Will Robinson, danger," definitely makes our top ten list of memorable quotes from a television series. It was the classic line by robot B-9, voiced by Dick Tufeld.

Much like Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet, B-9 has had numerous toys produced depicting the character. Today we'll be looking at the remote controlled one shot version from Toy Island.

Much like the aforementioned Robby, B-9 was limited in how far it could walk because of the wire connecting the toy to the controller. As such, this is more so a tabletop toy, or one you're going to spend a lot of time on your knees with.

The ten inch toy featured a light up dome, and spouted the famous "Danger" quote. Though the controller featured numerous buttons, the majority of them are actually just molded plastic for aesthetics that do nothing.

Whats interesting to note is that in 1998 Trendmasters produced a B-9 robot for their own Lost in Space The Classic Series line. The artwork on the packaging is so similar to that of Toy Islands that it can often times be mistaken for the same series. We'll most likely be taking a look at that particular series in the near future.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

The Howler, The Vampire, The Zombie (AKA The Monsters) (Toy Island)

The Howler, The Vampire, The Zombie (AKA The Monsters)
Toy Island
1992

There's something to be said about a classic creature toy line. We've covered a few of them here and there - Our most popular being the Remco Universal Studios brand. Obviously some are far more popular than others, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the lesser favorable ones are bad. Toy Island is no stranger to the world of monster related toys. The company has produced four different lines since opening its doors in 1989 (and sadly closing them in 2007). Today we're going to take a look at their 1992 line which fans have come to call "The Monsters".

No, you won't find the word "The Monsters" anywhere on the front of the package. Instead, you need to flip it over where the cardback showcases the three characters available in the line - The Howler, The Vampire and The Zombie.

Each eight inch doll is in the fashion of your classics Mego line, and could easily be incorporated into a set of them. Featuring full cloth clothing, and decent articulation, there's definitely a quality of the same standards as your traditional Mego doll.

Admittedly, we don't really know what's going on with the accessories packed in with each character. Axes, swords and maces? These seem more like weapons that someone would futility try and use against creatures such as these as opposed to them using them themselves.

Okay, so they're not the greatest in terms of monster figures we've seen come and go in our lifetime, but there's still some charm to them. Whether it was due to lackluster sales, or low quantity production, these figures aren't too readily available on secondary markets. In fact, we've honestly only seen them a handful of times, and typically they're loose, and missing articles of their clothing. As such, while we typically would gauge a price for them, we're unfortunately not able to. If you've purchased one in the past or recently, drop us a comment on what you paid.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Toonsylvania (Toy Island)

With the success of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs in the early 1990's, Steven Spielberg tried his hand at yet another animated series; Toonsylvania. The show was not as successful as its predecessors, but managed to eek out two seasons, the first being shown on Saturday mornings typically during the "The No Yell Motel" block, and the second being aired on Tuesday afternoons. In total, there were only 19 episodes.

A typical episode for season one was split up into several segments. The first revolved around Dr. Vic Frankenstein, his assistant Igor, and Phil, their dim-witted Frankenstein monster. The second segment was more of an interlude which featured Igor and Phil on a couch trying to fix a TV remote. In every segment a new problem would ensue with said remote, and was a running gag akin to the couch gag on The Simpsons. The third segment was entitled "Night of the Living Fred," which was about a family of zombies. However this segment was sometimes replaced with parody versions of classic b-movie horror flicks. This was followed by "Igor's Science Minute" which involved the character Igor doing some form of science experiment which would end in disaster, and finally "Melissa Screetch's Morbid Morals". This sketch involved Phil doing something bad, and Igor teaching him a moral lesson by regaling a tale involving a bratty girl named Melissa Screetch.

When season two aired, the show was changed to a more sitcom motif with Igor, Dr. Vic and Phil interacting with a variety of new characters. The only other segment to appear sporadically during the final season was "The Melissa Screetch Show". Now instead of being a moral lesson for Phil, the segment revolved around Melissa hiding under her covers, pretending to be the host of her own show when she was upset with someone. Each segment involved the party she was upset with being a guest on her show, and her doing away with them in some manner.

Anticipating the series to be as big a hit as Spielberg's prior animated shows, Toy Island was brought in to help promote the series with a line of toys. However, when the show promptly failed, so too did the toy line, and it was cancelled.

Unlike the show itself, the figures weren't too bad. The characters were strange enough to draw attention to the toys, even if one had never heard of or didn't watch the show, and came packaged in eye catching blue packages with green and yellow labels scattered about the front. Each figure also included an impressive amount of accessories to accompany them as well as piece that doubled as a stand.


Along with the five figures produced there were also four playsets. Though each playset was small in nature, they could be shifted to combine together to make a single large one.

A small subset of wind up toys was also produced by Toy Island, but many collectors don't feel they incorporate into the series due to their design and overall quality when compared to the "regular" line.

All and all these figures and playsets are incredibly easy to come by on secondary markets, and they go for real cheap too. A typical figure will set you back about five bucks, while a playset will go for around fifteen. Mind you, these prices are for mint in package, sealed toys.

Join us next time when we take a look at Alpha Flight!

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.