rendmasters has launched a 6-piece toy line to accompany Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! film. The line includes the action figures Martian Leader, Martian Ambassador (reviewed), Martian Spy Girl and Martian Trooper, as well as hardware like the Martian Brain Disintegrator and Martian Flying Saucer (reviewed). There are even Computer Mission Disks for the PC to take users through three adventures. Except for the Mission Disks, all of these toys require batteries, although the Martian Flying Saucer has missile launchers that don't need power.
The Martian Ambassador is fairly typical of this skull-faced action figure line. Possessed of a hideous, lipless, open-mouthed grin, the ambassador comes with a removable chaos ray blaster as an accessory (this doesn't actually fire) and ominous Martian threats. Press the red knob on his chest and his head rotates like a slow, wobbly centrifuge -- his huge, superior brain flashes and throbs -- while hostile chirrups and static are translated: "Mars will rule!" His fiery, magenta-colored, plastic cape even has some flexibility and movement to it. Swisssh.
The saucer is the classic prototype: silver, flat, with a bubble-hooded cockpit in the center for the pilot and three slender, collapsible landing gear struts. The cockpit opens so the Martian pilot may disembark to investigate the terrain he is to conquer. Press the key in back of the bubble and the saucer emits purple flashes and five distinct saucer-sounds -- one of which is quite definitely the rapid fire ack-ack of alien weaponry. Mechanical missile launchers compete the weapons system.
Kitschy yet bizarre
There are some minor (and some not-so-minor) problems with this line. First, the packaging and marketing is a bit confusing. While the different models are more or less accurately described (Martian Ambassador, Martian Leader, etc.), the different versions are not. The toys come in two sizes, with the smaller versions equipped with two sets of weapons (one of which fires missiles, as the Martian Flying Saucer does) and the larger versions having no firing weapons.
The larger versions are a bit heavy and don't seem to be able to support their own weight when posed. A quick look at the bottom of the (Martian Ambassador's) feet showed holes that seem like they might exist for a stand, but no such stand comes with the figures. And lastly, a small point, the Martian vocalizations (of the large versions, at least) are a bit loud. It's hard to fault the line on visual punch, however, and if there was an award category entitled, "Best Use of a Gimmick," these toys would be hot prospects for winning. Pulsating, oversized brains? Hard to beat.
The line is fairly dead-on in its capturing of the B-movie sensibilities and aesthetic values of the original menacing Topps invaders. The action figures are kitschy yet scary, repulsive yet bizarrely comforting. The saucer is a thrill. It's clean-looking and sleek, and it's probably exactly what generations of farmers, housewives, and sweethearts in lovers' lanes saw and reported to the local authorities. Overall, these toys are enjoyable B-movie mayhem.
