Bugmen of Insecta

[RSS]

I thought I'd dedicate the Friday feature space to this odd little line of early 1980s obscurity. Not because I collect them but because they kind of fascinate me.

When Toys R Us first hit my town in 1984, the Bug Men came with it. Their cards looked warn already and it was sort of this weird "never heard of it toy line" that belonged in a pharmacy rack toy aisle more than a TRU action figure aisle.

There they sat and sat and sat until at least the mid 1990s when they seemed to vanish from every Toys R Us I visited, in some sort of clearance clean up. I almost never see them at toy shows either, they just vanished. That was until this past fall when I was at Burlington Toy Con and a fellow I know trucked by a box of them.

Turns out the Bug Men are highly collectible now, commanding more than I'd pay for them, which is a shame because their mix of horror and cheapness are now intoxicating to me. Fortunately I was able to record them for posterity, more after the jump:

I think the best thing about the Bug Men is their card art, looking at it I guess we all know what happened to Action Jackson now. Above is Grass Hopper man, I'm assuming the Bug Men were meant to be bad guys.

I'm assuming that the Bugmen were Multi toys answer to the fantasy action figure craze of the 1980s spawned by Mattel and Remco. I wasn't really paying utmost attention to the figure aisle at this point.

This guy is from the Tiger Beetle tribe, good to know.

This fellow is Webspinner, from the tribe known as (ahem) Spidermen. Kids won't like that name.


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[ScottA]

How cute. They all have a pet.

[cjefferys]

Man, I remember seeing these guys on toy clearance racks, now I wish I had bought some and packed them away. The figures are pretty crappy, but I'm digging that card art.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

Isn't there a comic on the back of the package that explains their story?

Don C.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I don't recall these guys at all. I did see them in the big Tomart's Guide to Action Figure book that came out in the early 90s though.

Is it possible that these were cheap knock-offs of Sectaurs?

Chris

[4NDR01D]

I'd love to get the second or fourth one carded. Zero intrest in a loose one, that card art is sweet. The rubber bug friend is a nice touch too.

[HardyGirl]

Forget the pics of Jermaine Jackson. Listen to the lyrics to this song. Don't you think these figures go w/ this song?

Escape From The Planet Of The Ant Men:

[mazinz]

I remember seeing these guys at a Child World and then later closer to me at Woolworths. Not sure if I ever bought them or not, but the package design was the best part

[megoat]

I'm not really an 80s collector but I dig these guys a lot. These and Dragonriders of the Styx are way more interesting to me than the more famous lines from the 80s......