Mighty Max (toyline)

British series of toys (1992 1996)
the Mighty Max toy series

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 color varied based on the playset purchased) which also always had an "M" on it. 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.

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!! ?

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.

A number of Mighty Max playsets were released throughout the different ranges featuring a different color scheme in some both the set and the figures are different colors, and in others only the set is different. Although the name of the set and the box art is unchanged, the one exception to this rule is a black and red Ice Alien Doom Zone that was completely rebranded as Fire Alien. Wolfship 7 Doom Zone: blue and green interior & silver exterior variant / and light grey exterior variant (aka First Edition). Skull Dungeon Doom Zone: grey exterior variant (aka First Edition). Doom Dragon Doom Zone: light green exterior variant (aka First Edition). Ice Alien Doom Zone: black exterior and red interior (renamed Fire Alien). Arachnoid Doom Zone: brown exterior variant (aka First Edition). Scorpion Doom Zone: gold and purple exterior variant. Hellcat Doom Zone: grey Interior variant (probably a prototype). Corpus Horror Head: green variant. Lockjaw Horror Head: blue variant. Kronosaur Horror Head: red variant. Talon Horror Head: blue variant. Lava Beast Horror Head: light red variant. Droid Horror Head: fluorescent variant. Battle Warrior Conqueror: gold and red variant. Skull Master Mega Head: pure black wing variant. Doom Dragon Watch: light green variant.

More variations were planned for the previously released Doom Zones and Horror Heads, and even Shrunken Heads. Colour variations for three Series 1 Doom Zones Skull Dungeon, Doom Dragon and Temple of Venom were shown in a Mattel Toy Catalog but never actually released. More interestingly, there were a number of metallized sets planned, a first for the series development images show metallized versions of the Skull Dungeon and Temple of Venom Doom Zones, the Vamp Biter, Lockjaw and Kronosaur Horror Heads, and the Mummy, Insectoid and Rat Trap Shrunken Heads.

On the trail of the popular Mighty Max, other companies would soon implement the miniature playset style into their merchandise for properties including Star Wars, Godzilla, and Batman Forever. Such toys would often feature a character's head as the unfolded playset and an environment familiar to the property at hand (i. e. Batman's head unfolding to reveal the Batcave). Galoob's popular Micro Machines line already bore a similar scale to Mighty Max and created a variety of miniature Star Wars "head" playsets ranging in size. Playmates Toys also introduced mini Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek playsets in 1994 and continued producing them the following year.