Rogues' Roundup: Sidekick Carl and friends (and enemies)

 

Over the last few months, I've been doing a lot more with the action figures I actually played with the toys I actually played with as a kid. As previously seen, the stars of my playtimes were Husky and Sidekick Carl, first seen in the original Roundup. We've also met some of the the rogues' gallery that built up in their adventures, like generic Godzilla, the big red Robotech guy, the mystery Cylon wrestler and the Toxo Warriors. This time, I'm going to give a more comprehensive lineup of my toy shared universe and just how wonky it was. To start with, here's their arch enemy, played by Bossk, with some of his minions.

Per my mythos, the character Bossk represented was the Master Mutant. As far as I can recall, he was created in the same top secret project or toxic waste spill that gave Husky his super powers. He could create other mutants at will, and also had the ability to turn into a puddle of ooze when defeated. Of course, his goons were other Star Wars aliens that I cycled through. I'm sure the group shown here were the ones I used most frequently. One extra memory is that the Hammerhead (second from left) was the last original Star Wars figure I got on card, as a prize in school in either 1986 or 1987. Of course, I didn't quite understand at that point that the Kenner line had ended in the first place, so I didn't see it as a big deal, particularly since this wasn't even the last time I saw a packaged figure in the wild.

Because economy was always a driving factor, the next most featured villain was a super villain named Dr. Hydro, who actually created Carl. The figure I used for him was a mixed and matched GI Joe figure long since lost, made mainly from the second incarnation of Deep Six and the Toxo Viper. In practice, he was the same as the Master Mutant, except his deal was to make robots instead of monsters. I did get some variety with those. The Star Wars stormtroopers turned up regularly, and I'm sure I used Transformers and other bots. But most of his minions were various Cobra Vipers, as I had decided that anyone with a mask could be a robot in a pinch. Alas, most of the ones I still have around have long since succumbed to rubber band rot. Here's a lineup of the ones that are relatively intact, including a very late Flak Viper.

Then there were the Playmobil figures, already represented by the Toxo Warriors and in the girl action figure special. They typically showed up as bystanders and generic goons, but several developed into  leading villains. The one that hit the big time was a character called the Black Raven, I think the third most frequently featured villain. What stands out in hindsight was that I only used a Playmobil figure because I had nothing like what he was supposed to be, a sort of human/ bird hybrid monster. Despite that either lazy or breathtakingly imaginative measure, I still customized a figure to represent him by putting a black hair piece on a black body. Here he is, along with a pair of evil clowns who appeared once or twice.

As mentioned in the girls' special, the Playmobil figures weren't all bad guys. They were my go-to for any female character, which came to include a daughter who tagged along with Husky once in a while. Then there was a time-travelling knight who was kind of neutral, plus a motorcycle cop and a Wild West sheriff I had too long not to have appeared. I recall there was also a recurring character who was a kind of rebel or secret agent in a dictatorship that I think one of the mutants had set up. It's one of a number of things I now find amazing. Here's a lineup of the good guys.

Inevitably, there were times when I used a lot less imposing toys. Here's a lineup of probably the lamest toys I used for "lead" villains that I can still find.

For what I can remember of the back stories, the guy on the right (a Panosh Place Combat Commando last seen on Mystery Monday) was supposed to be a renegade military officer, which at least fit what he looks like. The one on the left is a Lego Fabuland figure, which I probably still have more of in one place or another. To my recollection, she was supposed to be a mutant minion who set out on her own. I called her Audrey, and I liked her well enough that I'm pretty sure I brought her back a few times. The middle one, I can't quite explain. Yes, that's Donald Duck, riding what I understand is supposed to be a float. To me, however, he was an alien with a machine that could control gravity. (I know I did read an old Avengers comic with Graviton.) As you are probably deducing, such transformations were fairly typical for me. My pick for weirdest of all was an ancient Fisher Price Big Bird figure I couldn't find on short notice, which I turned into an interdimensional god-powered entity. In my defense, the thing was so worn out that the eyes turned red, which genuinely freaked kid me out. I had no trouble finding pictures of the same figure, but still none that looked the same way.

Finally, here's a lineup with the big red guy, now with a weapon I rediscovered that I modified for his hand. How could swords and giant robots ever go out of style?

That's all for now, more to come!