Animax (Schaper)

Animax
Schaper
1986

We can't take credit for the majority of this post. That credit belongs to Mel Brinkrant who we have talked about in the past. We've borrowed the photos from Mr. Brinkrant's site, and cleaned them up for presentation here. Truth be told, he tells a much better story on the line than we probably can, and his site deserves a visit for that. In the interim, we'll give it a go here.

The line featured two sides - The RoadTrainers (good guys), and the Motor Mutants (bad guys). The premise behind each of the RoadTrainers figures was that they each had an animal mask that when worn would telepathically link them to their animal / vehicle - Yes, half car, half animal. Or, as the back of the package puts it;

"Part living animal / part vehicle created by mankind. They are the sole surviving animal species."

Hmm...That's actually quite sick and twisted now that we type it out. Anyway...

Unlike the RoadTrainers who love their animals, the Motor Mutants control their beasts through brute force.

Each of the six figures were carded individually, and featured very bland paint colors, and overall a very "cheap" sculpt. No details or paint applications were present in the faces of the RoadTrainers - Which all look the same, save for a different color hair.

Back of Carded Figure

For the very few people who were interested in the series, the animal / figure two pack seemed the more viable option. Not only did it contain the same figures as noted above on the cards, but also their respective vehicles. Kind of a no brainer to go this route instead, huh?

Much like the carded figures, there were six individual packages available. However, with that said, there were initially eight combo packs planned. When the series limped onto toy shelves, X-Tinctor / Obliterator and Max Action / Jungle Max were cancelled.

For the fans of the series, Marvel / Star Comics also produced a very short lived comic book series. These books, when found, typically are in dime or quarter boxes - So they're relatively easy to come by. They're also far more common than the actual toys.

As for the toys, as noted above, they're rather scarce on secondary markets. Additionally, they're priced way too high with each carded figure listed at $100.00+, and the vehicle / figure combos priced even higher. As a result, this line is often times passed on by most collectors.

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