Lost In Space - The Classic Series (Trendmasters)

Lost In Space - The Classic Series
1998 - 1999
Trendmasters

Whoops...Let that be a lesson to you. Never schedule a post that you haven't actually finished. As many of you may have noticed, we've done that with two posts recently. So, now we're doing a little backtracking to finish them.

We touched briefly on the history of Lost in Space in our post regarding the Toy Island release from 1997. So we'll skip the history lesson of the show, and jump right into the toys.

Right on the heals of the aforementioned Toy Island line was the 1998 - 1999 Trendmasters series. Unlike Toy Island which focused on a one and done remote control Robot B-9, Trendmasters covered much more ground. The line included dolls, various versions of Robot B-9, and even a vehicle. Unfortunately for fans, the items weren't necessarily designed and developed to be intermixed with each other. Rather, much like your typical LJN produced line, it was sort of all over the map.

The most common pieces from the series to be found are the tube boxed dolls which featured Dr. Zachary Smith, Judy Robinson, Major Don West and Will Robinson.

Though not boxed in the same style as the tube dolls, the two dolls in window boxes, Cyclops and Tybo the Carrot Man are also fairly common on secondary markets. You'll notice that we haven't really mentioned any prices just yet. This is because while the dolls in general are fairly easy to find, there sadly aren't many transactions going on between buyers and sellers.

In fact, Robot B-9 seems to really be the only draw to the series for collectors. The standard and chrome versions of the robot have sold for between $35.00 and $45.00 new in the box. Granted this isn't much of an increase in price from their original retail prices.

However, the massive Radio Control B-9 Robot is another story all together. This 24 inch robot is not only incredibly difficult to find, but it's also going to set you back anywhere from $350.00 to $500.00 to get one.

Though the Jupiter II spaceship has been found numerous times priced at around $450.00 (or more), the reality of it is that most collectors aren't willing to pay that kind of price for it. Mint condition ones in the box typically sell for around $250.00, with the occasionally one selling for slightly more. Mind you, its by no means cheap, but it's definitely not the price a lot of sellers are asking.

Which in turn could be the biggest challenge that the series faces in drawing fans in. Secondary prices are marked far higher than what most people are willing to even consider paying. It's really a no win situation for either parties. Buyers can't get the items they want because they're not going to pay double what their value is deemed, and sellers can't sell their products because they're asking way to much.

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Forbidden Planet (Trendmasters)

Forbidden Planet
Trendmasters
1998

There have been a ton of toys based on Robby the Robot from the 1956 film, Forbidden Planet. Unfortunately a fair amount of them have been bootleg knockoffs. Be them Japanese / Chinese knock offs sold by local street vendors. Or grocery store toy isle fodder with names a simplistic as "Robot". It seems everyone wants to cash in on the iconic character.

Fortunately for the franchise rights owners, not every toy distributor simply wants to use the likeness of their robot. In 1998, Trendmasters produced the one off, Remote Control Robby the Robot.

Robby featured a motorized walking feature as well as lights and sounds. Pretty much the only downer to this thing was that the distance he could walk was limited to how closely you wanted to follow him - Probably on your knees no less. The bot was tethered to the remote via the wire that sent the signal from the control to the toy, and not a long wire at that - Thus why most adults would be on their knees with it. Overall though, not a bad representation of the character.

Prices vary drastically depending on condition of the box / robot. We've seen prices as low as $65.00 (still not cheap), and as high as $150.00 (definitely not cheap). Then there was the one lucky guy that won one off of ebay for an astonishing $11.38 - Not only a great value (for the buyer), but a win for the unintentional Lucasfilm reference. Either way, that's probably one happy buyer.

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The Iron Giant (Trendmasters)

The Iron Giant
Trendmasters
1999

We love the Iron Giant movie. It was fabulous! Of course it didn't start as an animated film. Rather, the Iron Giant's roots can be traced back to 1968 when he was created by writer Ted Hughes for the novel The Iron Man.

In the book, the Iron Man comes to England where he rains destruction down on farm equipment. Later in the story he befriends a young boy, and eventually saves the world from an attacking monster from outer space.

Though part of this premise is used in the film, the animated adaptation opts out of the monster invasion plot, and instead brings into focus our own destructive nature as human beings. As a result, the story is a little more easier to get engrossed in, and also leaves a deeper impact of how violent a society we are that we would destroy ourselves to eliminate out of fear a potential threat that we don't understand. Deep, huh?

Unfortunately for fans of the film, Iron Giant toys weren't necessarily easy to come by. Granted Trendmasters did a descent job of putting some items out there, but we never got the action figure and vehicle line that one would have expected with such a franchise.

The end result is a product line that's all over the map - Much like LJN used to do with their movie based products. Nothing really fits in correlation with each other. Not only that, but all of it is strictly based on the Iron Giant character, leaving no other characters available. This is where an action figure line would have been spectacular - Think figures, military vehicles, etc.

That's not to say that what we did get was poor or inferior, it was just awkward when compiled. On one hand you have a six inch figure of the Iron Giant, but on the other you have an electronic bank. See how these two items don't work together? It was as if the advertising hook was, "Get your Iron Giant toys, and...I don't know, incorporate it with your G.I. Joes or something?" Which now that we say that would have been AWESOME with the 22 inch Ultimate Iron Giant figure.

Build & Battle Iron Giant

 

Iron Giant Animated Bank

 

Power Hero Iron Giant

 

Remote Control Iron Giant

 

Super Plush Iron Giant

 

Transforming Iron Giant

 

Ultimate Iron Giant

If you're looking for these items these days, be ready to drop some cash. Typically they're expensive. Most items will set you back around $125.00 to $150.00 each. True mint condition in the package items have also been known to sell for close to $400.00 each. However, there are occasions where you can pick up loose items, and stay under the $100.00 range - That is if other buyers aren't scoping out the same items as you. Patience is key if you are looking to invest as little as possible.

Join us next time when we take a look at Spider-Man: Web Force!

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Extreme Ghostbusters (Trendmasters)

Extreme Ghostbusters
Trendmasters
1997 - 1998

Extreme Ghostbusters was an animated series set years after the original The Real Ghostbusters animated series. The premise of the series surrounds the concept that due to a lack of paranormal activity in the city the Ghostbusters have disbanded. Dr. Egon Spengler is the only remaining member of the team who has chosen to stay in the firehouse, monitoring the containment system and watching over Slimer. He makes his new living by teaching a class about paranormal activity at a local college.

When ghosts return, rather than call his old friends back into action, Egon instead seeks the aid of his small class of students to join him in his quest to once again bust the spooks. The only other returning familiar face was Janine Melnitz, the Ghostbusters original secretary who seems to have forgotten about Louise Tully, and picks up where she left off in her affections for Egon.

Though the show tried to be darker in its image with its rock/punk version of the original Ghostbusters theme, and dark under toned characters, it failed to really capture an audience and revitalize the franchise as Sony had hoped. The end result was only forty episodes with several unresolved story arcs, and character relationships.

Between 1997 and 1998, Trendmasters produced a series of toys based on the show, finding little success in the toy isles. Each Ghostbuster was represented in both a standard and deluxe edition, as well as a handful of ghosts. Unfortunately that's as far as the series got with the exception of the Ecto 1.

Well, let us backtrack a moment. That's as far as the series got in the USA. There were two more items produced and sold exclusively in the UK - The Ghost Blastin' Buster Bike and the Ghost Grabbin' Gyro-Copter. Not only are these two items incredibly rare, they're going to set you back anywhere from $50.00 to $1,000.00 to obtain depending on condition.

DELUXE FIGURES

Eduardo*Egon

Roland*Kylie

The series was fond of using bright neon colors for the characters, a style that was often used towards the tail end of the original Real Ghostbusters line from Kenner.

BASIC FIGURES

Eduardo*Egon

Kylie*Roland

GHOSTS

House Ghost*Mouth Critter

Sam Hain*Slimer

In terms of sculpt and design, the Trendmasters version of the Ecto 1 car is pretty spot on. It's hard to find fault in it at all.

VEHICLES

Ecto 1

Join us next time when we take a look at The Dark Crystal!

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Casper (Trendmasters)

Casper
Trendmasters
1997

Casper was created in 1939 by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo.  They initially developed the character with the intentions of producing a series of children's books.  Unfortunately as they shopped the idea around they quickly found there was little interest in the project.

While Reit was away on military service, Oriolo sold the rights of the book to Paramount who not only released several books, but as many of us know also developed the character for numerous comic books, animated shorts, fully animated series, and movies.  Since his first introduction, Casper has garnered waves of loyal fans who will buy anything with his name and/or image on it, and there have been many products to date - Lunchboxes, plush toys, clothing, action figures, and so much more.

In 1997 Trendmasters produced a small line of figures hoping to capitalize on the somewhat success of the feature film which starred a young Christina Ricci, and Bill Pullman.  Much like the film, it reached an audience of loyal Casper fans who jumped at the opportunity to get their hands on new Casper related merchandise.

The first wave of figures produced were the Transforming Disguise ghosts.  Each ghost featured a sound effects button on its chest that could be pressed from outside the package via a hole in the bubble.  These figures were designed to be disguised as everyday workers such as a police man and fire man.

TRANSFORMING DISGUISE

Casper*Fatso

 

TRANSFORMING DISGUISE

Stinkie*Stretch

 

The second set of figures were the Hide and Seek Friends.  The figures were much smaller than the Transforming Disguise wave, and included very large accessories.  The premise was that the figure would hide inside of the included accessory and featured a pop out mechanism.

 

HIDE AND SEEK FRIENDS

Casper's Toy Box*Casper's TV Set*Fatso

 

HIDE AND SEEK FRIENDS

Stinkie*Stretch

 





The last item produced by Trendmasters was the Whipstaff Manor Playset.  It seemed like with every different concept the company came up with, the figures got smaller and smaller as the figures included with the Manor were smaller than the above Hide and Seek Friends.

PLAYSETS

Whipstaff Manor Playset

 

Join us next time when we take a look at Flash Gordon!

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