Id like to use this posting to discuss one of my favorite groups of G.I. Joe figures -- even if theyre not the favorite of a lot of G.I. Joe collectors. Im talking about the LUNARTIX EMPIRE ALIENS. Yeah, okay, I know. Try to stay with me here. In its later years, the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero collection moved further and further away from its military foundations. Personally, I didnt have that much trouble with that. By that time, G.I. Joe had increasingly become a character driven line, and while the comic book, written by Larry Hama, did a very capable job of maintaining as much of a real-world and military foundation as possible, although even the esteemed Mr. Hama had to work in some of the later concepts as best as he could, the toy line had pretty well moved away from that, while introducing an interesting mixture of new characters, and new takes on established favorites. Some worked better than others. I was never a big fan of Ninja Force, because I didnt like the fact that the figures couldnt be disassembled for repair, and I thought the internal spring-action mechanisms were a horrible idea. I also wasnt all that fond of the Eco-Warriors, since they were a little too close to the political-correctness of Captain Planet or some such. I didnt mind the new characters that these concepts introduced, but otherwise... One the last new concepts to come along was called STAR BRIGADE. And this one really received a mixed reaction. G.I. Joe in space? G.I. Joe science-fiction? Well, as a longtime sci-fi fan, my reaction was -- HECK yes! But that wasnt the reaction of a lot of the fans. I dont know, maybe if our real-life manned space program had amounted to anything after the manned moon landings -- but thats a topic for another time. In 1994, the second year of Star Brigade came out -- barely -- and featured a trio of aliens operating under the name Lunartix Empire. One gets the impression that this was a name that probably sounded a lot classier in whatever original alien tongue it was developed from, and lost something in the translation. Distribution of this second year if Star Brigade was not widespread. There was even a rumor that it would not come out at all. As such, when I finally discovered it one day at Target, I dashed back to the front of the store, grabbed a shopping cart, and raced back to the toy department so fast I left burn marks in the floor tile that stayed until they remodeled the store into a Super Target a couple of years ago. I pretty well cleaned them out. Back then I had the finances to do that sort of thing. And G.I. Joe figures were a lot more affordable, too, for that matter. Those three aliens remain personal favorites of mine to this day. I dont care if no one else likes them or not. I do. I think theyre great. I also think its a testament to the toy designers that they were able to take such incredibly oddball characters, and still manage to make them fit as well as they did in the established G.I. Joe figure design format. Certainly they werent going to be built around the usual figure bucks. But they still manage to clearly look like part of the G.I. Joe line, albeit a rather extreme part of it. The trio includes: CARCASS - Hailing from the planet Mirtonia in Quadrant 4, Carcass is described as a born menace to the universe, and leaving nothing but broken bones and smashed dwellings in his wake. Hes arguably the most humanoid of the three, with two arms and two legs. But the arms are these bizarre rubberized bendies, his skin looks like a carapace-like cross between a lobster and some sort of insect, and his head looks like a Romulan Warbird, with his eyes perched on these outer stalks, and a nasty mouth full of teeth front and center. Hes almost uniformly bright orange, and his internal organs are visible in a translucent chest protected by an external rib cage, which must make him a delightful dinner guest. LOBOTOMAXX - Easily the most bizarre of the threesome -- and thats saying something -- Lobotomaxx is from Planet Zog in Morus Sector 5, and is described as one of the most unmerciful creatures ever hatched. His file card goes on to say that he is a friend to no one, and ates both humanoids and even his fellow Lunartix aliens alike. His torso and arms have a relatively normal structure, although his hands end in these three-fingered claws, but the rest of him is very strange. He has two legs, but below the knees, these divide into four lower legs and feet. He has an exceptionally long neck, and a bizarre head with a jutting jaw, and bulging eyeballs that are more to the sides of his head than the front. And just to add to the weirdness factor, he has a long tail with a grasping claw at the tip. On the toy, both the neck and tail are bendies. PREDACON - My personal favorite of the three, really. Hailing from Planet Trilenium in The Badlands, Predacon makes his living capturing criminals and selling them to Galactic Authorities. He is loyal only to his tribal clan from his homeworld, and wears their ancestral medallion on his uniform. He has blue skin, bulging black eyes and a mouthful of nasty teeth, green dreadlocks, and four-count-em-four arms. The arms are all designed just like typical G.I. Joe arms, and even end in rather normal-looking human hands. He must be great at one-man piano duets. His legs are fairly normal, except for unusually large feet, but the basic design of the figure requires that he stand in a rather stooped position, which one assumes is normal for him. The Lunartix were recolored, briefly. Lobotomaxx was made very slightly darker green. Carcass was turned black. Predacon was given dark red skin, gray dreadlocks, and his dark blue vest and white pants were turned black and gold. Curiously, each recolored figure was given a light spray of silver paint on their backs. Never could figure that out. These figures were mostly marketed in Mexico, and the packages given Spanish-language stickers. The Lunartix never got much in the way of media attention. There was no animated series at the time. Larry Hama, perhaps understandably, refused to use them in the comic book. The only time they turned up much of anywhere was YEARS later, in the fourth and final G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover published by Devils Due, titled Black Horizon. The Lunartix had a brief sequence in this, where theyre flying through space, and have just discovered Earth, and think it might be a worthwhile planet to plunder, and then have the awful misfortune of crossing the path of Unicron, the planet devourer. Needless to say, that didnt end well, although it was worth noting that Predacon seemed to be the leader of the group. Although not specified as such on their file cards, Id always sort of suspected as much. It was a brief appearance, but I was glad to see them. The most fun I ever had with any of these figures was at the Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas on one occasion. There was this one area where you could have your picture taken up against a green screen, and it would then be superimposed via computer onto a Star Trek setting. The photographer could also paste in other Star Trek characters. I thought it would be fun to have a photo of myself standing in the Next Generation Enterprises transporter chamber. But then I thought. How much size adjustment was possible? I talked to the photographer, and explained what I had in mind. He thought it was a great idea. The size adjustments limits came up just a little short, but if you allow for his posture, its not that bad. And so, I have a photo of myself standing in the transporter chamber of the Next Generation Enterprise, accompanied by Dr. Crusher, Commander Data, and Predacon, who looks to be about five feet tall! Whats really funny is that Data is holding a tricorder, somewhat in the direction of Predacon, and has a look on his face like, What the heck did we beam up?! Apparently, though, Im not the only one who has some affection for the Lunartix. At a recent Official G.I. Joe Collectors Convention, one of the custom figure displays featured literally dozens of Predacons, every one of them a different color scheme, and from what I could tell from the photographs, they looked to have been molded in those colors, not just painted. One clue to that is that there was a TRANSPARENT one in the mix. You dont get THAT by painting! Every one of them looked like a production-level figure, every one of them was a different color scheme, they were all amazing, and I wish I knew who pulled that display off, because, while I doubt very much that I could afford it, Id love to know what hed charge to sell me some of those Predacons. I was impressed. So there you have it. My tribute to the Lunartix Empire of G.I. Joe. A lot of people dont like them. I do. Deal with it. :)
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 20:17:44 +0000
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