Friday, May 10, 2019

The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict:Mighty Max!

The 80's and 90's had some of the greatest cartoons known to man. It was an era of super heroes that all of us should recognize with some we may have forgotten about and maybe even some we haven't heard of.

Boy, do I miss cartoon days.

So it was 1993 and a new hero was about to be unleashed on my TV. That heroes name, Mighty Max!

Here is the introduction theme song to the show.

Mighty Max came out in September of 1993 and lasted for two seasons ending in 1994....sadly.
The series follows Max, an adventurous preteen boy who is contacted with a mysterious package that contained a small statue of a fowl that had Egyptian hieroglyphs on it which stated "You have been chosen to be the cap-bearer. Go to the mini-mart and wait for a sign, Mighty Max".

Max ends up dropping the statue which breaks revealing a red baseball cap with a Yellow M on it which for some reason or another he picks up and puts on. What Max doesn't realize is that the cap has the capability of transporting him across space and time. It doesn't take long for him to find it out when he ends up going to the mini-mart and is chased by an evil lava monster which the hat teleports him to the Mongolian desert where he meets his "master" Virgil and his assistant Norman.

With Virgil and Norman by his side, Max travels the world defending earth against the minions of Skullmaster who was voiced by the very talented Tim Curry. Most of the episodes follow Max battling one of the villains but there were plenty of episodes where Skullmaster would show up to try and battle Max himself. Which the final episode was a big battle between Skullmaster and Max.

With most TV shows at the time, there of course was a toy line to go along with it. It doesn't seem to be that way today as most kids would rather prefer electronic versions of toys. It's a sad world we live in.

At the time of Mighty Max, there was a girls line of toys known as Polly Pockets which were these handheld playsets with mini figures within to use in the playset. My sister had a few of them herself. Well, with Max traveling to so many locations, Mattel came out with their own line similar to the Polly Pockets but with Mighty Max line that were individual playsets with Max and villain figures within.

Of course being a huge fan of the show, I wanted every single set. But, coming from a poor family, it wasn't going to happen. I did end up getting one set even though I begged for months for the one I really wanted, Skull Dungeon.

Like the rest of my nostalgic toys, that one set was sold off. So with some help from my friend @Jake1725, I was able to grab the set from my childhood to own once again.

The set features the episode from Season 2 of Scorpio Rising. Max and gang find a crazed nuclear scientist who plans to use giant mutated scorpions to rule the earth.
Here is the outside of the playset

Nuclear Scientist

Our hero!

Playset inside

Max ready to battle!

Trying to defend his lair!

It was pretty cool to hold one of these in my hands again. The toy itself was 25 plus years old so it has been awhile. The great thing about this set that you don't find often on eBay was the fact it was reasonably priced and came as a complete set. Usually those don't go hand in hand with these. Sometimes the Max figure alone can cost what this set went for and it's also in mint condition.

Here is the commercials for the Mighty Max figures.

The show also was so popular that McDonald's came out with their own line of playsets but it wasn't as cool as they mainly came with the playset and one figure. I did own one of those as well but it wasn't quite the same as owning a real set.

I spent a lot of time in 1993-1994 wishing to become Mighty Max and with lots of imaginative play it brought me there. Today, I wished that statue would show up at my door so I can drop it and reveal the same hat. Except I would be Mighty Matt! Kinda catchy isn't it? I would use that hat to time travel and save Saturday Morning cartoons and the sport card hobby from what it all has become today. It would also be kinda sweet to battle Skullmaster to honestly and bring back 3D Doritos.

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