Indie Squid Kid

A Plush A Day: Day 2 Baby Socktopus, originally uploaded by Futuregirl_LeahRiley.

We interrupt Action Figure Week to bring you this really cute hand-made one-eyed plush octopus. It was yesterday’s entry in Leah Riley’s Plush a Day Challenge. That’s right, Leah is making a new plush toy every day until she runs out of ideas or scrap material. Which ever comes first!

Follow her progress at Leah’s Stuff.

Ten years after Tentakil, Takama/Hasbro added a new cephalopod to the Transformers family. And this one actually resembles a real animal!

Meet Claw Jaw. He was released in 1997 as part of the second wave of the Beast Wars Basic figure assortment. The Beast Wars Transformers franchise was set several hundred years in the future of the Generation 1 continuity. Instead of Autobots versus Decepticons, we have their descendants: Maximals and Predacons. Instead of transforming into vehicles, these robots change into various animals.  In the states, the toy line was supported by a successful cartoon series (1996-1999) and more recently in comics published by IDW.

Despite the fact that most Maximals were mammals (and Predicons were generally reptiles and insects), Claw Jaw is actually one of the good guys. In his beast mode, Claw Jaw has eight arms, two tentacles, and a long, finned mantle. Even though his eyes are in the wrong position, and his beak is oriented the wrong way, it’s not a bad representation of a squid, all things considered. The figure is about 6″ long in squid mode, but only stands about 4″ tall in robot mode. A trigger on his ventral side causes the beak to open and shut.

Unlike the previously discussed Tentakil, Claw Jaw looks pretty cool in both robot and beast modes.

In 1998, a green and yellow repaint was marketed in Europe as a “Transmetal” version.

Although never appearing in the TV series, Claw Jaw did appear in the Beast Wars comics series The Gathering (Feb. 2006) and The Ascending (Nov. 2007). According to these comics, he prefers to spend his time in an underwater layer, and only really gets along with other marine Maximals. Using the suction cups on his tentacles, Claw Jaw can drain energy directly from his enemies. He has a particularly bitter hatred for Predacon crab Razorclaw.

In Japan, this figure was called Scuba, and a repaint of the figure was sold as his cousin Ikard. Both squid-bots were part of the Japanese-only Beast Wars II line.

This is Tentakil, a Generation 1 Transformer, and member of the Decepticon sub-group the Seacons. Each Seacon was a different monsterous sea creature, and although the resemblance is questionable, ten-armed Tentakil does, in fact, appear to be a squid.

All five Seacons could combine to form the super-robot Piranacon. Tentakil was the left leg.

Pirnacon! (photo from tfwiki.net)

This is a little off-topic, but who the hell thought electric pink and teal were good colors for evil aquatic robots!?

Anyway…when not on leg duty, Tentakil could transform into three different solo modes. In his beast mode, this bipedal squid-bot appears to be wearing a Creature From The Black Lagoon Halloween mask. My figure is missing his accessories, but he would have originally come with two “Slime Laser rifles” that could be head-mounted (mantle-mounted?) in beast mode or carried like regular guns in robot mode. Tentakil also has a third “Targetmaster” mode where he turns into a “50,000 volt lightning rifle.”

Like all G1 Transformers (as well as the Battle Beasts from yesterday’s post), Tentakil was produced by Takama/Hasbro. The figure is stamped 1987, but it appears that the Seacons didn’t hit American toy shelves until 1988. I realize I didn’t include any sense of scale in these photos, but the toy is about 3 3/4″ tall. Even though my brother and I had quite a few Transformers in our time, we never had this or any of the Seacon figures. My future brother-in-law, who was an avid Transformer collector at the time, gave me this Tentakil figure after he found out that I collected cephalopods.

In Japan, the figure was marketed as Tentakil drone for the Super-God Masterforce line, and in 1998 a repainted version of this figure became Scylla, a female Predacon in the Beast Wars line. Another repainted Tentakil was released as part of an Official Transformers Collectors’ Club exclusive Seacon gift set in 2008.

Transformers #47 (December, 1988)

Tentakil (and the entire Seacon crew) debuted in Marvel’s Transformers comic in a four issue story arc called the “Underbase Saga.” As far as I can tell, it has something to do the battle between different Transformer factions to control the master database that contains the collective knowledge of the entire Transformer race. And it’s under water. Or something.

The Seacons, it seems, work for Decepticon mini-cassette Ratbat, and they are trying to acquire the “Underbase” before either the Autobots or the treacherous Starscream does.

According to the Transformers fan site Unicron.com, this is how Tentakil is described in his comic book appearances.

He is undeniably the cruelest, deadliest Seacon. His style is as distinctive as it is lethal.  He showers a potential victim with kindness, offering him help, even complimenting his appearance. And then, once he has gained the confidence of his victim, Tentakil moves in for the kill. In a flash, kindness turns to cruelty. The soft caress of his limbs turns into a deadly, unyielding stranglehold. He seems to take a perverse pleasure in these amiable charades, enjoying them even more than their inevitable, lethal conclusions.

Wow, what an a-hole!

Tonight for Action Figure Week we have some toys that I actually played with in my youth—Battle Beasts! Originally produced in the mid-1980’s by Japanese toy company Takara (under the name “BeastFormers”), Battle Beasts were marketed in the US by Hasbro. They are 2″ figures representing various anthropomorphic animals, each decked out in high-tech armor and wielding a unique bladed weapon. Each figure had a heat-activated sticker which depicted one of three “elemental” symbols: fire, water, or wood. The idea was that when you make any two Battle Beats “fight,” you activate the stickers to see which element each animal represents. Water beats fire, fire beats wood, and wood, for some reason, beats water (I think because wood makes it splash?). I never really cared about that, however, I was just into the animals. I divided them up into three armies: land, air and sea, and I assigned them all ranks and military specialties.

There were 76 figures in the original three series. Most of them were mammals and birds, but there were a few fish and invertebrates, including these two cephalopods.

#43 "Cutthroat Cuttlefish"

#36 "Octillion Octopus" (photo from www.toyarchive.com)

Both the squid and the octopus were released in 1987 as part of Series 2. The squid (it’s not a cuttlefish, no matter what they say) is mine, but I seem to have lost the octopus at some point over the years. (I should probably try to pick it up on Ebay one of these days.) The photo here is from the excellent Battle Beast section of ToyArchive.com. The squid (which you might recognize as my blog avatar) is missing its weapon, a small double-tipped spear, but as you can see he can still defend himself with his prosthetic harpoon arm!

Welcome to Action Figure Week!

Defined as a “posable character figurine,” the term “action figure” was originally coined by American toy company Hasbro in 1964 to market their G.I. Joe line to boys. The success of G.I. Joe was followed by other popular toy lines, like Mego’s DC and Marvel superheroes, but it was a little movie called Star Wars that earned the action figure a permanent spot in the pantheon of classic toys. Just don’t call them dolls!

Cephalopods may seem like unlikely subjects for the action figure treatment, but there have been several notable examples over the years. As luck would would have it, I happen to own most of them! So here we go…

This may look like a Cthulhu action figure, but it’s Killamari from Mattel’s “Street Sharks” toy line. The corresponding Street Sharks cartoon series (by DIC Entertainment), which was probably created to promote the toys, ran from 1994-1996. The basic premise is that a mad scientist (Dr. Paradigm, aka “Dr. Piranoid”) has transformed the four sons of a rival professor into shark-men. They team up to fight the evil geneticist and his band of  monsterous mutant sea creatures. Killamari is one of these “Seaviates.” He is a mutant squid that can fire poisonous projectiles from his mouth and suckers. Killamari is highly intelligent, but has limited abilities of speech, a fact that has sparked a rivalry with fellow Seaviate Slash (a mutated marlin). He was voiced by D. Kevin Williams (who also did a number of other voices in the series).

Killamari was released in 1995 as part of the first Street Sharks assortment. At 6″ tall and nearly 5″ wide at the shoulder, it is a pretty big hunk of plastic. The toys and cartoon were a bit after my time (I was in college), but I picked this figure up a flea market sometime in the late 90’s. I got it as-is, so I’m not sure what accessories it would have come with originally. However, this photo of the figure in its packaging indicates that there was a “dart” that fired out of the toy’s head.

First there was the Bearsharktopus, but now we see the gentler, fuzzier side of Ursine/Cephalopod hybridization.

Ursapus by Everyeskimo

Everyeskimo posted this wonderful creation to her blog on Friday, and it was apparently for sale in her Etsy shop. However, it must have been snapped up instantaneously, because by the time I got there Friday afternoon it was nowhere to be seen!

Coincidentally, Kid Indie Squid Kid was trying out his new bear costume over the weekend!

I’m not saying you have to decide which is the cutest, but if I did, I think you’d know the correct answer…

It’s 10/10, Squid Day, and the last of the International Cephalopod Awareness Days. I ran out of time to get the big post I’d planned to have finished by today, so instead I thought I’d take advantage of all this increased awareness to try to get a little mystery solved.

When I was a kid in the 70s, I remember one of our neighbors had a cool set of orange toy sea animals. I had forgotten all about them until I found these two figures (see photos below) at a flea market in Raleigh, NC several years ago. They mystery is that I have no idea who made these toys, or when, exactly, they were produced. Furthermore, I can find absolutely no trace of them on the Internet. None.

The underside of this figure reads “Giant Squid 60ft” and the number 12. There is no manufacturer name or date (not even a “Made in China”). I am fairly certain that each animal in the set was numbered, indicating that there were at least twelve pieces.

[Squid Day Fact! It was once widely accepted that Architeuthis, the Giant Squid, grew to a maximum length of 60 ft. or even longer. These figures were largely based on a dubious report from 1877. Modern length estimates for Architeuthis are more conservative, usually in the 30-40 ft range. That's not to say that larger specimens are not waiting for us down in the depths...]

The other figure from this set that I have is the Giant Oarfish (Regalecus glesne), on which is printed “Oarfish 30ft” and the number 7. To my knowledge, this is the only toy reproduction of an oarfish that has ever been made.

Apart from the Giant Squid and the Oarfish, the only others I specifically remember are a Sperm Whale, Manta Ray, and (I think) a Sailfish.

A commenter on Flickr has a vague memory of these toys and thinks they might have been part of a mail away promotion, but he can’t remember anything else specific. So, if anyone has any information about this toy line–who made it, what other sea animals were included, etc.–please let me know!

Also, if anyone owns any other figures from this set, I’d love to post pictures of them here!

Last month I wrote up a small review of the Discovery Kids Smart Animals™ Giant Squid figure and asked one of the great mysteries of the ages…What does a Giant Squid sound like?

Anyway, long story short, someone at JAKKS Pacific, the toy’s manufacturer, read my post and offered to send me some free samples, including the all-important Scanopedia! So, without further ado…

photo by Chrysophylax

Cthulhu action figure by SOTA Toys.

Carcassonne board game by Rio Grande Games.

Safari Ltd., as I have mentioned before, is the leading purveyor of high-quality plastic toy animals. Over the last ten years or so, they have produced three different versions of Architeuthis—the legendary Giant Squid.

The first Giant Squid made by Safari was this tiny guy. It was part of a small assortment of similarly-sized marine animals which were available, if I recall, in the mid-90s (although there is no date printed on the figure). This assortment has been out of production for a while, and I think it was part of the Habitat Authentics line. (Although I haven’t been able to dig up any information on it—thanks for NOTHING Internet!)

The figure itself is not as accurate as Safari’s second Giant Squid sculpt (see below). While it is a perfectly lovely squid, generally, its mantle and tentacles are too short to be an Architeuthis (something we’ve seen before).

Safari’s next version of the Giant Squid really hit the mark. The 1998 Monterey Bay Aquarium Giant Squid is approximately 18″ long, and it remains the best Architeuthis replica to date. It retails for $9.99 and is still available from SafariLtd.com.

Here the Giant Squid is locked in combat with Safari’s Monterey Bay Sperm Whale. As you can see, the scale is a little off…despite a few unverified reports from the 19th century, it’s unlikely that they ever get quite this big.

In 2004, the Wild Safari® Sealife Giant Squid was released. This is the same sculpt as the Monterey Bay squid, only scaled down (approximately 10″ long) for the cheaper Wild Safari line. Buy on SafariLtd.com or look for it at Michael’s, A.C. Moore, or the better sort of museum gift shop.

Here are both squids in a side-by-side comparison. Both versions have wires in the long feeding tentacles, making them the most poseable Safari replica.

Learn more about Architeuthis on Tree of Life.

Previously on ISK: Wild Safari Sealife Octopus