Mighty Max (toyline)


Mighty Max was a series of toys that were manufactured by Bluebird Toys PLC in the UK in 1992. The toys were similar to the earlier Polly Pocket toyline, but these toys were marketed primarily towards young boys. In Canada and the United States, they were distributed by Irwin Toy Limited and Mattel Inc. respectively. The original toyline consisted mainly of "Doom Zones" and "Horror Heads". "Doom Zones" were small playsets with a horror theme and featured miniature figurines of menacing creatures and the hero Max, a young boy with blond hair, jeans, a white t-shirt with a red "M" on it, and a baseball cap. The "Horror Heads" were smaller-sized playsets, also shaped like the heads of creatures and contained miniature figures. It was later adapted into a TV series, as well as a tie-in video game The Adventures of Mighty Max produced by Ocean Software for the Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis.

Story

The background story of the toys was as follows:
Max's dad left him his old baseball cap. Trouble was, this was no ordinary baseball cap..."Gotta look the business" Max thought as he tweaked the cap's peak round to the side. "AAAARGH!" Suddenly, the world had gone weird and very unfriendly! The cap had changed colour! Something very strange was going on! He'd been caught in the Horror Zone. Stumbling from one terrifying adventure to another with only cryptic clues to help him escape...he was all alone. He was scared. But he was MIGHTY MAX, and he'd get back somehow!

Image:Temple of Venom.jpg|thumb|Mighty Max Conquers the Temple of Venom – closed
Image:Temple of Venom.jpg|thumb|Mighty Max Conquers the Temple of Venom – open

Television series

Premiering in September 1993, an American animated series based on the toys was produced. After the series began to air the characters Virgil and Norman and toys based on episodes of the series were added to the toyline to form a new series. The story on the packaging was revised accordingly and a short-lived comic book series by Marvel UK was created as well. The appearance of Mighty Max changed considerably; Max was no longer portrayed as a young kid but as a young teenager with a long blonde hair, blue jeans, a red cap, and a white t-shirt similar to his portrayal in the television series. The older Doom Zones, Horror Heads and playsets were re-released with the original story replaced with the revised one:
Max was bright and pretty good at getting in and out of trouble, but he'd never forget the day he broke his Mom's mysterious old statue and found the Cosmic Cap inside. How was he to know it made him 'the Mighty One', able to travel instantly from place to place by means of time Portals? And how were Max, his Cosmic Cap and his two friends and protectors, wise old Virgil and fearless Norman gonna' measure up against the ultimate evil of the Skull Master!!?

Toys

Some of the toys featured a short comic on the back of the packaging summarizing Max's adventure in that zone. Most of the short comics feature roughly 10 panels.

Doom Zones

By far the most popular and recognisable range, the medium-sized Doom Zones usually contained around three to four set-exclusive figures along with a standard Max figure. Some playsets from the third series are relatively uncommon but the rest were all very widely produced. The original six playsets in Series 1 were later repackaged with a bonus Norman figure, and the six playsets in Series 2 were later repackaged with a bonus Hairy/Dread Head.
Series 1
  • Mighty Max Slays the Doom Dragon - contains the figures of Max, Ravendark and the Doom Dragon.
  • Mighty Max Trapped by Arachnoid - contains the figures of Max, Arachnoid, and the Creep.
  • Mighty Max Terminates Wolfship 7 - contains the figures of Max, Lord Lupor, an Evil Alien Lieutenant, and an escape pod.
  • Mighty Max Liquidates the Ice Alien - contains the figures of Max, the Cryogenoid, the Iceosaurus, and two alien heads.
  • Mighty Max Escapes from Skull Dungeon - contains the figures of Max, Dr. Gore, and Smasher.
  • Mighty Max Conquers the Temple of Venom - contains the figures of Max, Mummy King Venom, and a giant scorpion.
Series 2
  • Mighty Max Saves the Kingdom of Gargantua - contains the figures of Max, the Ape King, and Zantar.
  • Mighty Max Grapples with Hellcat - contains the figures of Max, Gor the Caveman, and a mastodon.
  • Mighty Max Outwits Cyclops - contains the figures of Max, the Vile Torturter, and the Eye of Cyclops.
  • Mighty Max Stings Scorpion - contains the figures of Max, Scorpion, and Scorpobot.
  • Mighty Max Blows Up Mutasaurus - contains the figures of Max, Professor Zygote, a Pterodactyl, and a Raptor.
  • Mighty Max Caught in the Jaws of Doom - contains the figures of Max, Dr. Kalamarus, a manta ray, and two attack squids.
Series 3
  • Mighty Max Sinks the Nautilus - contains the figures of Max, Captain Nemo, a Poseidon beast, and a Neptune trawler.
  • Mighty Max Bytes Cyberskull - contains the figures of Max, Cyber Surfer, Brain-Source, and a virtual vehicle.
  • Mighty Max Squishes Fly - contains the figures of Max, Fly, Drax, and a maggot scavenger vehicle.
  • Mighty Max Traps Rattus - contains the figures of Max, Rattus, the Arak Nid, and a sewer plague vehicle.
  • Mighty Max Lashes Lizard - contains the figures of Max, the Parasite Prince, and the Ulcer Monster.
  • Mighty Max Grips the Hand - contains the figures of Max, Lignin, and a corpse.

    Horror Heads

Essentially serving as smaller versions of Doom Zones, the Horror Heads usually contained around two set-exclusive figures along with a standard Max figure. Some playsets from the third series are all relatively uncommon but the rest were all widely produced.
Series 1
  • Mighty Max Against Droid Invader - contains the figures of Max, an android, and Master Brain.
  • Mighty Max Battles Skull Warrior - contains the figures of Max, Skull Warrior, and a space surfer.
  • Mighty Max Challenges Lava Beast - contains the figures of Max, Lava Beast the Energoid, and a lava beetle.
  • Mighty Max Defeats Nightwing - contains the figures of Max and Nightwing.
  • Mighty Max Fights Nuke Ranger - contains the figures of Max, Nuke Ranger, and a hover pod.
  • Mighty Max Neutralises Zomboid - contains the figures of Max, Zomboid, and Sluggon.
  • Mighty Max Pulverizes Sea Squirm - contains the figures of Max, Krillor, and a sea serpent.
  • Mighty Max Versus Kronosaur - contains the figures of Max, Cave Man, and Steggy.
Series 2
  • Mighty Max Hammers Spike - contains the figures of Max and Ax Man.
  • Mighty Max Hounds Werewolf - contains the figures of Max and two Horror Hounds.
  • Mighty Max Survives Corpus - contains the figures of Max, Mort the Gravedigger, and a corpse.
  • Mighty Max Tangles With Lockjaw - contains the figures of Max and Big Red the Lumberjack.
Series 3
  • Mighty Max Zaps Beetlebrow -
  • Mighty Max Crushes Talon - contains the figures of Max, a carrion vulture, and a soul-sucker leech.
  • Mighty Max Out-Freaks Freako - contains the figures of Max, Boris, and Grovel.
  • Mighty Max Rams Rhesus 4 - contains the figures of Max, Hydron, and a ramming vehicle.

    Monster Heads

The Monster Heads were playsets that were considerably smaller than even the Horror Heads, and did not actually open up. They each came with one set-exclusive monster figure and a Max figure unique to that playset.
  • Zombie Commando and Jack Knife
  • Mecha Crawler and Octo-Slime
  • Gorillabat and Ape Warrior
  • Imperial Dragon and Samurai Serpent
  • Phantasm and Dr. Destiny
  • Basilisk and Zilard Beast

    Hairy Heads (also known as Dread Heads)

The Hairy Heads were playsets that were really more accessories, heads with openable mouths that possessed a hinge on the back to be used to stand the head upright or attached to an object such as a school bag. They all had fuzzy hair on the top of their heads, hence the name Hairy Heads, and an included random Max figure could fit inside the mouth. Hairy Heads were only released on single cardbacks in the UK and Europe. In the US, they were called Dread Heads and released as bonuses with Doom Zones.
  • Hemlock
  • Karbon
  • Anthrax 9
  • Razorback
  • Garrotid
  • Eruptus
  • Berserker
  • Skullcrusher

    Shrunken Heads

The extremely small Shrunken Heads were fully openable, unlike the slightly bigger Monster Heads, but only came with an exclusive Max figure and no detachable monster figure to fight - instead simply an embossed decoration set against the interior of the set. The first eight sets were based on original creatures, while the remaining eight were based on episodes of the cartoon. The first eight originally came packaged in sets of two but later were released on separate cards by themselves. They were also available as cereal box prizes in some regions. This is why the first eight are relatively common, unlike the later eight which were released in much smaller numbers and are some of the rarest and sought-after sets within the series despite their small size.
Series 1
  • Bloodsucker
  • Lobotix
  • Pharaoh's Curse
  • Venom
  • Rat Trap
  • Meltdown
  • Rok Monster
  • Vampyre
Series 2
  • Skull Master
  • Dr. Zygote
  • Fang
  • Conqueror
  • Gargoyle
  • Necrosaur
  • Lava Lord
  • Doom

    Battle Warriors

These were action figures which transformed into small playsets, based on the same principle as the Mighty Max Blasts Magus playset but on a much smaller scale.
  • Challenge #1 - Battle Conqueror - contains the figures of Max, Virgil, and Norman.
  • Challenge #2 - Double Demon - contains the figures of Max and Skullmaster.
  • Challenge #3 - Lava Beast - contains the figures of Max and Lava Lord.
  • Challenge #4 - Pharaoh Phang - contains the figures of Max and
  • Challenge #5 - Medi-Evil Mauler - contains the figures of Max, Basilisk, and the Stone Dragon.
  • Challenge #6 - Megahert - contains the figures of Max, Cyberskull, and a Cybot.