Mars Attacks: Failed Movie Action Figure Lines: 20

For the 20th episode of Failed Movie action figure line based on movies, we take a look at the 1996 Tim Burton movie Mars Attacks and the figure line based on the cult classic 90s film and the figures based on the trading cards from the 60s!
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[@jeanlongsden1696]

Mars Attacks was a great movie, it delivered exactly what it set out to do. it spoofed the 50's Sci Fi movies with a tongue in its cheek. it was never meant to be a movie like Independence Day.

[@devoncrestway338]

crazy how the failed movie toy lines are the most expensive. these, for example, are pretty pricey.

[@robd1329]

It was the 90s. We all thought the toys were crap

[@devoncrestway338]

@@robd1329 well, i mean... they were. lol. but the price over time has gone higher than i expected for these. even loose out of the package, a single martian goes for around $50. not super high, but higher than anyone would have expected these to ever go.

[@robd1329]

@@devoncrestway338the Spinmasters toys look really cool today

[@ThatJunkman]

Not all :)

[@devoncrestway338]

@@ThatJunkman hey Junkman, i found a really obscure little-known action figure line that i think it would be really cool for you to do a video on. it's called 'Bible Quest'. it's a detailed, cloth-clothed line of action figures based on the Holy Bible. it's crazy. lol. i'd love to see your take on it.

[@RarebitFiends]

I have a few of these, I need to get the rest. Mars Attacks is one of my very favorite pop culture things ever. I have a pretty complete collection of the various card sets (only a reproduction of the original cards, they were controversial enough they only made it into shops in a few states before Topps canceled the line to avoid further controversy), the comics, a couple copies of the movie, all of the different movie posters framed on the wall in my home, etc. The one thing I don't have is a full set of these toys. Thanks for a video detailing the line!

[@genesanford9412]

man , i LOVE this line. I collected the HELL outta this series. i,ve got variants of VARIANTS. The saucers were fun. Still got 2 (1 boxed)....cool line

[@phillipfilkins5627]

This is one of my favorite movies of all time.. I love how it was made

[@stevegallo8483]

The main reason I was interested in Mars Attacks was Natalie Portman's involvement in it, and it was a good movie. Great spoof of the sci fi movies of the 50s and 60s. As I recall, that Martian Spy Girl figure was hard to find in the mid to late 90s.

[@jamesclukey7488]

It was a lot of fun ! And one movie where Nicholson gave it everything he had ! There were so many known and soon to be known actors you needed a score card. I bought two of the movie figures, the Ambassador and the Spy Girl, and also the Flying Saucer. Just recently I acquired a complete set of the reprinted collector cards. They were relatively cheap ! Thanks for the video !

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

The first time that trading cards was made into a movie was the infamous Garbage Pail Kids film.

[@jasonking3182]

Mars attack is a great companion pice to Ed Wood.

[@leoteasdale7484]

This movie was ahead of its time.!!

[@shoplift6362]

Had them all. Had the gun. Loved these. Love to have some now

[@Taffer-bx7uc]

One of the few Tim Burton films that didn't have Johnny Depp in it and for that it's unique.

[@williamwilkinson6665]

This movie was funny as hell I have new appreciation for slim whitman after seeing this movie lol Thought the line did pretty well , I know the martian spy girl was hard to find and I regret not picking up a couple of those ships ..

[@allanbard6048]

I had a group of collectors that worked the Atlantic City casinos in the 1990's. With all of us looking (incliding our extended crew), we found one. In three months. But he opened it to get the fake head onto the figure for his shelf. That head didn't react well to being opened.; there were cracks and splits near the rear factory splt neck none of us could fix, he took it apart and back in the box it went. Elfman's music was badass.

[@applehead6179]

I agree. I injoyed this film back in the day. I also liked Starship troopers

[@Ramillies1000]

I remember buying the video which came with a t-shirt and it fell apart after one wash. The toys look cool.

[@jonathansanders1657]

The movie was great. I think it paid great homage to the 60's style sci-fi movies. The toy line was ok. I would wonder if they did not do the larger style figures popular at the time if it may have done better.

[@captlazer5509]

I agree a 100% on this one Junkman. Having humans to attack would have been perfect. Or at least a skeleton or two lol I still have the 12 inch figure and the smaller figures. Wasn't into the non-movie figures, they looked cheap looking compared to the Tim Burton movie designs. Yeah Mars Attacks bombed but who cares? Movie was hilarious! "They're using the symbol for donut... " or "...the ain't getting the tv set.." Cracks me up. Mars Attacks ripped on Vegas and its citizens literally. Trendmasters did a good job on the toys.

[@aliciadilchus7195]

Mars Attacks definitely Joy to the World

[@ken.f.c.1977]

loved Mars attacks

[@darylarmentrout252]

Dinosaur Attack was another Tops Traiding card set from the late 80s. You should do a video on those

[@tomcreech4848]

Loved the film still have the space ship with it's pilot. Love it too

[@hunterlangley8287]

Its still so great.

[@MrLourie]

I liked the movie and thought it deserved better. But I don't recall ever being aware that there was a toy line. Cannot remember ever seeing it in the stores.

[@Mango_vr-ok6ln]

While you were naming the toys you forgot the doom saucer

[@optimascrime5235]

If these toy's re realesed today I guarantee that would all sell out

[@g1stylempdesign929]

Fantastic movie, great fun! The toys were sold at The Suncoast Motion Picture company stores n the mall as well as well as Tower Records- they were really nice for the time and had some really cool effects - we had one shipment at Suncoast and they never restocked and quickly went on clearance

[@gigantor803]

I've got the full dinosaur attack set.... such a cool set

[@ThatMainframeDude]

Loved and still love this movie. Great campy fun in the style of 1950s martian movies. This should get a remake, but stick to practical-ish special effects, little to no CGI.

[@Tjrush-rm4jj]

I remember this film doing pretty well in my area. Even my dad went to see this movie and liked it a lot. He wasn't normally into these types of films.

[@dilanlake8870]

When ever I hear of my favorite movies of my childhood being flops I think to myself, that my town must have been under a rock. Because, this movie was a huge success in our eyes and holds up so damn well today. With a movie full of endless characters it’s a bummer the toy line only produced the aliens. Would’ve absolutely loved to own an Egyptian dressed boxing Jim Brown or a presidential and millionaire cowboy Jack Nicholson possibly with Oval Office and tower play set. Best part of playing with the figures was stealing grandmas Slim Whitman album and pretending their heads would blow up.

[@superpaul79]

There was a Garbage Pail Kids movie in 1987. I would argue that that was the first movie based on trading cards.

[@ThatJunkman]

True

[@superpaul79]

@@ThatJunkman it's not a good movie. Like, at all. Not even a little. Not even when I was 8 years old

[@marvelpg]

that movie was awesome ! those figures would have been really cool

[@jeffreycoogan09]

@That Junkman I went to see ''Mars Attacks'' in the theatre when it first came out. It's a good movie. Now, this is (purely hypothetical). But I think that ''Mars Attacks'' may have performed a lot better at the box office had it not been for the fact that it was released only 5 months after ''Independence Day''. (FYI). ''Mars Attacks'' 1996, was not the first movie that was based on a trading card series. 9 years earlier ''Garbage Pail Kids the Movie'' came out. However, most people tend to forget about that one.. And (for good reason).

[@Wario7793]

I wonder if the studios were afraid Mars Attack (based on trading cards) would flop like the Garbage Pail Kids the movie. I'm glad they made Mars Attack! all-star cast, wacky humor, good special effects, fun story.. what more can you ask for?

[@DapperManDan]

I loved that Jack Nicholson got to ham it up in this movie as two different characters... I have the Martian Trooper figure, it's in a box right in my closet right now, but I used to have it on my bookshelf at my old apartment just because it was fun figure to display. This movie is way underrated. To this day if someone makes a circle motion with their hands I will say "Look, it's the international sign of the donut!"

[@parodyerrorfilms7722]

Trading Card had been made into a movie before. You're forgetting the Garbage Pail Kids Movie. You're not the only one. MacKenzie Astin leaves the room if you bring it up.

[@jamesbounds]

Crazy how many big actors that played in this movie. I never got any of the action figures from the Mars Attack toy line though.

[@Phoenix2312]

I never even knew there was a Toy Line for Mars Attacks... The Movie, I personally loved it! It was Cheesy yes - but Intentionally so and I found it to be great fun! I have to agree that no Humans meant the line lacked staying power... But it would be fun to see the line get a new lease of life!!! Done right and with opposition this time... Heck, why not even bring back teh trading Cards or even create a Trading Card Game... I have a couple of old "Card Sets" that used to belong to an ex of my sister... Which had pop out Die Cut Plastic parts to make Spaceships... Similar idea coudl be done with Mars Attacks (Though I will admit they are kind of expensive to produce!)

[@ThatJunkman]

Super 7 did a line but also no humans :(

[@robd1329]

...i wasnt collecting toys during this time...after seeing this now...i would have collected the toys. They look cool!

[@juliantcasaigne3858]

I would buy every single one of these toys and it was a super cool movie at that time to me.

[@Drixenol86]

Despite enjoying it, this film gave me nightmares as a kid.

[@nikolugo]

The only Mars attack action figure I had was the one alien with the red cape

[@jaysunpuke]

great film, never knew they had a toy line. i would have bought them 😉

[@ciscodeer9094]

I thought this movie was crazy, but sadly I was never into the toys

[@KM-dk5gn]

Wow, that toy commercial would have worked as a Saturday Night Live sketch it was so bad... That being said, if I saw one of those alien toys in the store I would probably buy it even though I didn't like the movie when I saw it in the theatre. I didn't hate it either, it was just a strange movie that fell short of the magic in many of Tim Burton's other movies: Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, are among my favourites.

[@markcoledrumteacher]

I like the Mars Attacks movie. Trendmasters Battlestar Galactica was an interesting and strange line. It would be a good video if you haven't done one already. I'm not sure if you have or not. You do a lot of videos. Lol

[@jaywoodley6014]

My dad got me the ray gun for getting all a's on my report card. I had most the line. They made great badguys to give gijoe and cobra a reason to team up

[@jaywoodley6014]

I loved that ray gun the most though. When you fired it the brain wriggled around

[@the_weed_in_your_garden9319]

I never knew there was action figures. I loved the movie. It was hilarious!!! That Vegas cocktail waitress was HOT 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@jamespeters2859]

I’m glad someone mentioned the Vegas cocktail waitress. Phourrrrr! 😆

[@acrodave9287]

Thought the film was okay, got a Martian trooper but it ended up with a friends son. Would have loved the Saucer, but never saw one in my part of the world. Oh well...

[@tooruoikawa8985]

Ack ack!

[@genesanford9412]

exactly!

[@tooruoikawa8985]

@@genesanford9412 Ackactly! As the martians would say lol

[@michaelmcfarland1716]

Ack ack ACK ACK!!!!

[@keithsmith8543]

I have Mars Attacks on DVD. It's okay. Not bad at all. I also have the Martian Spy Girl figure.

[@mlcash9]

I loved this movie and the figures as a kid. As for movie star action figures i hated early 90s human vs monster figures like Jurassic park humans were trash looking but the dinosaurs were killer looking so im glad they never made humans for the mars attack line myself as i imagine them looking like JP or alians humans

[@williamsorrells6058]

To be honest, I think the toys could have been just a little better. Like all the vehicles, if they were larger with larger figures they wouldn't seem so cheaply made. As for the normal figures they suffer from being pre posed, like the power of the force line from star wars many of these figures had the arms or legs bent certain ways that if you moved them out of thier packages pose they didn't look natural, and yes I get the irony of saying that about a line of aliens. Don't get me wrong the figures look good, I just think they can do so much better even back when they came out.

[@jovishania]

Garbage pail kids the movie was basically based off the garbage pail kids cards

[@muddfoot69]

I love the movie…didn’t know it was considered a flop. I don’t think I ever saw the toys

[@Zan_Jayna]

It was a flop because it came out six months after Armageddon and people thought it was a copycat film. Just like what happened with Wyatt Earp and Tombstone.

[@richardcedillo-dr.bombay8028]

ACK! Ack,ack ACK ACK! Ack,ack ACK !!!

[@jaquessheet3267]

👽 This is one of my all-time favorite movies Roger Ebert was an idiot

[@mazinz2]

That film as was abomination. It was a G-rated slap in the face to the extremely violent and gory nature the trading cards were. At least the look of the martians was pretty spot on

[@ThatJunkman]

It was G rated??

[@mazinz2]

@@ThatJunkman No, but in comparison to the trading cards it certainly felt that way

[@hondamaticgarage9369]

there was a toy line for that movie?? wth?

[@mikeshirleyforever]

2:20 Meryl Streep?! 🤭

[@marioboi323]

Mars attacks wasn’t the first film based off of trading cards tho cuz there was a garbage pale kids movie in 1987 (and Jurassic park before that I’m pretty sure. I’ll have to double check about Jurassic park)

[@vaderfett3229]

All I remember of this film is the absolutely SHITE CGI. If Burton had stuck to his guns and used stop-motion animation and not as many big cast names, this could have been a cool cult classic. I hope someone gives Mars Attacks! another go someday but with more of a darker tone.

[@ThatJunkman]

Shit cgi? What lol

[@3Storms]

Mars Attacks was good in a cheesy-bad sort of way. The toy line was mediocre though.

[@cliftonkirksey6710]

A flop I thought this movie was great funny as hell I never checked out the toys they look decent though.

[@mattmc5069]

I remember it was big for like a month max then just fizzled out. They made a very short lived comic book to.

[@Zan_Jayna]

Don't run! We are your friends! - Joe Biden, Martian Ambassador

[@justicierodelaliga]

The movie never interested me back in the day. In fact, I watched it not so long ago and did not impress me. On the other hand, BEETLEJUICE gets so much praise as this "classic" yet I'm sure that is cause people haven't watched it since the 80's. Because the movie is extremely average at best. As for a couple of unappreciated movies from Tim.Burton: The Corpse Bride and Dumbo. The Corpse I find it much better than The Nightmare Before Christmas. However, this one I hace WB to blame. While Disney market the hell out if Nightmare WB forgets it exists. Meanwhile, Dumbo is one of the better live action from Disney so I do not get the hate. It is not the Meleficent movies where they changed everything but the character or The Lion King that's a short by shot remake with worse animation and música while extending scenes that do not need It like Simba's fur travel that even goes through literal crap.

[@DapperManDan]

Beetlejuice still holds up and is still one of my favorites, I watch it around Halloween every year... I will agree with you on Dumbo and Corpse Bride. I think the hate on Dumbo is just the backlash people have have for Disney making live action adaptation out of their classic animated films, Which I can kinda understand, but at the same time those movies still exist bothj on Disney+ and on DVD/Bluray... and if nothing else, the new live action adaptations lead younger audiences to the older animated ones.... I think the issue with Corpse Bride is that it has a very niche audience, as good as it is, the only people who really seek it out are Tim Burton fans, stop action animation fans and fans of dark fairy tales.

[@justicierodelaliga]

@@DapperManDan On point with what you said about the Disney animated movies. I´m a fan of them yet I can appreciate the live action ones. One just have to value each on their own. It´s not the same Dumbo (as we talked about it) or The Jungle Book than The Lion King. I take it as different interpretations so we can enjoy both. PS In the case of Dumbo (for instance) we got the same original story (with changes) plus a whole new story/elements added to it. Again, a different take on it. Besides, since the live action movies are longer there´s also another reason to choose to watch them over the original animated film whenever one feels like it depending on the time we have at that moment.

[@justicierodelaliga]

To myself, I´ll give the movie another chance since the concept itself and the desigin of the aliens are cool enough for me to give it another try.

[@JackieWohlenhaus]

Mars attacks sucks.

[@dreamlandnightmare]

Tim Burton's worst film, in my opinion. Jack Nicholson's president character was about the only thing I enjoyed in the film. The rest of it was bloated and overblown with consistently flat and overbroad gags. It also failed to capture the spirit of the original trading card series. (The alternate ending of Little Shop of Horrors does a better job of capturing the campy 50s/60s B-movie vibe of the card series.) The Martian designs were great, but they didn't do anything particularly interesting with them. The Martians just make weird noises and zap people and things. They should have given the Martians a lot more character, because I certainly didn't care about the majority of the unnecessarily star-heavy cast. Most of the characters were insufferably annoying.

[@ryanbarker5217]

an awful movie. like most of burton's movies, they are visually fantastic, but mostly unentertaining. he's been useless as a storyteller for almost 30 years. i have nothing against him, i just wish more folk would stop pretending the actual quality of the stories are good. nothing against the toys, either, they *look* nice, but not seeing much play value. as collectibles, fine, just not so much as toys. it would be like making 'columbo' action figures. push a button and he says, 'oh, just one more thing....'