Yog and Zhor were Tomland space aliens that originally appeared in the 1976 "Creatures From Other Worlds" line to cash in on Star Trek and then later as "Star Raiders" to capitalize on the success of Star Wars. Yog is the fellow with the muppet-like fish-face, and Zhor looks like a "grey alien" with horns.
Yog and Zhor
They both had red and yellow outfits on the original figures, so I thought it would be fun to make them a matching set, and just flip the red and yellow between the two figures. I gave them both swords and imagine them as space pirates, with fish-boy Yog as the first mate, and horned alien Zhor as the captain. Sort of like evil alien versions of Gilligan and the Skipper. Read about the original Tomland Yog figure here. Read about the original Tomland Zhor figure here. BONUS! MUSIC VIDEO: The Monkees - Zor and Zam
Believe it or not, I could not find any songs written about Yog and Zhor, the alien Star Raiders. However, here we have the song "Zor and Zam" by the Monkees, which plays as they return a sentient alien marijuana plant to it's flying saucer. So... close enough?
The Morlocks were a race of primitive, underground-dwelling cannibals from H.G. Wells novel "The Time Machine. When I made this custom version of Tomland's Morlock, I drew my inspiration from the 1960 Time Machine movie more than I did the original Tomland figure. I kept the yellow and green color scheme from the Tomland clothing though, using a Classic TV Toys repro Mego Robin Hood outfit that I cut up a bit.
Unlike the original Tomland version, though, I DID NOT give the Morlock an ascot. Although that would have put him into some swanky company along with Charles Nelson Reilly and Fred from Scooby Doo, it just didn't seem to suit a flesh-eating cannibal.
I also didn't give him a whip, which I didn't have, although that would have been cool. Instead I gave him a blood-smeared wooded baton, which I like as well. I thought about gluing some fabric or fur on his arms and legs to make his body hair, but I ended up just painting it on.
This guy looks like he's REALLY ENJOYING bashing someone's head in with that club.
The Morlock appeared originally in Tomland's Famous Monsters line, and was later repackaged as a space alien named Bico for their Star Raiders line. Read about both of them here (Famous Monsters) and here (Star Raiders).
For my second Tomland Monster custom, I have the Abominable Snowman. Tomland's Abominable Snowman was also known as "Abominable Snow Man Yeti" and was also packaged as an alien in the Star Raiders line as "Tago." Read all about those original figures HERE (Famous Monsters version) and HERE (Star Raiders version).
The paint job I employed on this head was copied directly from the original figure. The difference is the outfit. The original had a loose white jumpsuit with fringe along the edges. I couldn't find anything quite like that, and I didn't want to try to make clothes from scratch, so I went with this "ghost" outfit from Classic TV Toys. I think it works pretty well for the creature, though, in both form and color.
BONUS! MUSIC VIDEO:
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Abominable Snowman In The Market
Since I wanted to review a bunch of Mego style cloth outfitted 8 inch action figures for the Countdown to Halloween, I looked in to buying some monster figures made by a company called Tomland, which made Mego style figures in the 1970s and 1980s. But it turned out that those figures are expensive, like anywhere from $75 to $300 each, depending on how rare they are. However, I saw that Dr. Mego's Repros had resin copies of some of the Tomland Monster heads for sale, so I thought it might be a fun project for Halloween to put together some custom versions of those monsters, using the heads from Dr. Mego as a starting point. So I ordered the heads, and I got some other custom clothing and bodies from Classic TV Toys and the 8 Inch Superstore. I made a total of six figures, which I'll showing on this blog off and on for the next couple of weeks. First up: The Fly!
The Axe-Wielding Human Fly
The paint looks sloppy zoomed in this close, but it looks fine in real life. And I'm not just saying that because I painted it myself (actually I am).
CLICK HERE to read about the original version of Tomland's The Fly. For my version, I went with something a little closer to how The Fly looked in the 1958 movie. That includes giving him a fire axe, as that was what The Fly used to smash up his lab equipment in the film.
BONUS! MUSIC VIDEO:
The Cramps - Human Fly (1978 Promo Film)
If you haven't seen this yet, you should check it out, it's a 16mm horror promo film The Cramps shot for "Human Fly" in 1978 that recently surfaced on the internet. The actual song doesn't kick in until a minute or two in to the film, so don't worry that your speakers are going out or something.
This week's vintage 3 and 3/4 inch action figure from the 1970s or 1980s is "Newt," a weird robot from Tomland's Starroid Raiders collection. Just what is the deal with this weird little guy anyway? Read on to find out!
