Post by countzackula on Apr 13, 2013 10:01:39 GMT -6
Anybody have or remember these from 1994? I still remember that catchy TV commercial for 'em! Anyway...Carnivores...they came out in the 90s when we were still getting cool toy lines without any media accompaniment. There are at least a few other toy lines with similar names, so I found it hard to really try and research these without any general frustration. As a kid, I immediately thought they were cool when I saw them advertised, but never sought to own any due to the "car aspect" of the toys. I'd have rather had straight-up monster figures. I always appreciated the toy commercial and even looked at 'em in stores, but at the time had no true burning desire to own any. Their existence and memory always rattled around inside of my brain, though. I have tried to collect many toys over the years. There have been ups and downs for my hobby. Part of me almost wanted to try and have every toy I remember form the past pass through my hands, I guess. I don't need to actually own everything. Some stuff is just cool to look at. Lately, I've been struggling to "let go" and cool down with my collecting. I like to think I'm satisfied with most of the toys form the 90s. There are a few which I had a desire to actually own, and Matchbox's Carnivores was one of those lines. It was an easy and relatively affordable adventure in collecting. I'm glad to have gotten these somewhat out of my system!
They're here and they're hungry...CARNIVORES!!!
Basically, an amalgamation of monster and machine. We all know Matchbox is most famous for its vehicular toys. Each figure/vehicle is essentially a mutant beast on wheels with a few choice car parts jutting out of their monster bodies. Each has Ax-L Action. When you roll or push 'em, body parts also move around. Each character also has its own signature attack feature as well.
The story form the cardback:
CARNIVORES- Creatures who crawled up from the center of the earth to fight each other on the surface. Molten rock has deformed their bodies and warped their beastly minds. Now, Carnivores use their Ax-L Action to roam and unfamiliar world and wreak havoc. With special attack features, every battle is survival of the fiercest.
Soooo...all it takes is molten rock to make a monster? And how the Hell does that explain the car parts on/in their bodies? Eh, just tip back a cold one and forget it. Who cares? Maybe if I drive to the center of the Earth, I'd come back as a cool monster? I'm goin' for it...now just to find a big drill. In the meantime, here's the gang.
Keep in mind that each figure conveniently has their name somewhere on the underside of the toy near the manufacturer stamp. Nice! You'll never forget the name! Unless someone scratches it off...much like a guy in a chop shop might rip off the VIN number on a non-monster car.
There are smaller figures and larger ones with three action features instead of the two the smaller ones have.
First up is Iron Claw!
Cool, but my least favorite. Also the smallest. It's a weird mesh of slug, leech, and other aquatic-looking beast bits...with big-ass metal claws and hooks all over...plus a big engine coming out of its back. Push it along and the limbs flail. Push down on the back hook claw and the front one jabs down.
Next up is Chomper.
It's basically a weird frog-like monster but with extra limbs and teeth! Also, the obligatory car parts jutting out of him/her/it. There also appears to be shackles and chains on its limbs. A slave! Egads! Damn Confederates!
Chomper Unchained:
No, still chained. Aside from the same roll and limb flail routine, you push down on the pipe apparatus on its backside and Chomper...er...chomps. Who knew?
Next? Buzz Off. No...not the Masters of the Universe guy. A giant cyborg bee with bat wings. Honestly? The more I think about it, this needs to be a movie.
Unless this is a drone, I'm assuming it's female. Imagine a whole hive of these! Okay, push the figure and the wings flap. Give Buzz Off the ol' reach around and pull the stinger...aaaand the silver crest on her head launches like a missle! Bitchin'.
The crest/missile is like a mini version of Buzz Off...maybe a drone. And, another beast in bonds...like Chomper, this critter is in chains. Someone was trying to keep these beasts hidden. I smell a better origin story!
Now for Spitfire!
If Killamari from Street Sharks had a car.
Basically, a weird mollusk monster. Very squid-like. Mutant squid, to be exact. God...you gotta love the 90s. I love when toy companies got it right. Yeah, sometimes day-glo colors suck. Other times transparent parts can look bad if misused. Metallic paint jobs can be overdone. But some toys just combined these in an ass-kicking way. Carnivores and the Kenner Aliens lines, baby! They looked great.
Push it, and the tentacles slop around as if Spitfire was crawling. The front, upper ones move as if grabbing or trying to corral prey into its gaping maw of teeth. Push that obvious blaze orange tank, and water sprays out...oh, excuse me..."VENOM".
That's enough o' that.
Onto the big boys! Yeah, I guess you can say these are "deluxe" figures. There is one more "basic", but I'll get back to it.
First up is Venom Spitter. Gee...more "venom". Someone at Matchbox was hurtin' for a squirtin'!
Like the smaller Carnivores, you just roll it along and the limbs-on-wheels kinda flop around or whatever. This guy apparently has "real clubbing action" or something. This is in reference to the stocky, blunt limbs but I like to pretend Venom Spitter hits up dem clubz, dawg! Yeeeeah boi!
This thing is the most un-obvious mutant. The other look like some kinda animal. This thing has elements of reptile, insect, mammal (sort of) and maybe mollusk? Also has the usual jutting car parts sticking out. Oddly, enough, the front hand is clutching what appears to be a sharp blade or weapon. A shiv? Hey, half these guys are in chains. Monster prison break! Aw yeah, my fanfic is blossoming nicely.
Other action gimmicks are a water spray thinger and a biting action. Push the rubbery "brain" on its back and it sprays "venom" from the mouth area. Push on the engine and the upper body rears up and more fangs pop out. Weird how this thing has no lower jaw. A club-hittin', stabbin', squirty squirt squirtin' machine! HOTCHA!!!
Now for the only Carnivore without wheels...Bite Wing!
Instead of being modeled around a car, this thing is modeled after a helicopter. The beast aspect is mostly bat, but it also has some insect elements. A neat combination. Pull the trigger beneath the abdomen and the rotor blades spin. Classic. You can also make the long, needle-like fangs pop out. This thing can really...put the bite on you...eh heh ( oh, just shoot me). As you can also probably see, Bite Wing seems to have two remora-like symbiotes riding on his/her/its helicopter landing struts.
Instead of a third action gimmick, you get two removeable drone buddies. No names. Each has moving arms. I guess they are kinda like bombs? They have no wings, so I assume Bite Wing just plops 'em both into crowds of people and watches the fun from above...then picks up "the kids" after they finish playing.
Back to the smaller, basic Carnivores for a sec. I got all these carded. And none of the cardbacks showed this guy: Skull Shooter. Weird.
A semi-humanoid monster made of decomposed parts...has green hair remnants and a cracked skull, revealing gooey brains!
Ooh! What does it do? My mind is boggling! Oh yes, it shoots its skull...hence the name. Aside from the classic roll along action, you can fire its head off like a missile. I guess all that head bashing is why Skull Shooter has a busted up noggin. Eh, zombies were never much for smarts...and zombie cars are no exception.
So, if Skull Shooter was not pictured on most of the cardbacks...are there OTHER unadvertised Carnivores out there? Like I said before, it was hard to find a decent database of these toys. They have such a generic name, after all. Who knows. In time, we'll probably see.
Oh, and beeteedubblya...don't aim the thing at your face...it fires off hard and fast! Damn thing has a hair trigger to boot. Watch it.
Here's an example of the packaging. Glorious 90s neon!
Fighting, biting, starting wars...nothing can stop them: CAR-NI-VORES!!!
They're here and they're hungry...CARNIVORES!!!
Basically, an amalgamation of monster and machine. We all know Matchbox is most famous for its vehicular toys. Each figure/vehicle is essentially a mutant beast on wheels with a few choice car parts jutting out of their monster bodies. Each has Ax-L Action. When you roll or push 'em, body parts also move around. Each character also has its own signature attack feature as well.
The story form the cardback:
CARNIVORES- Creatures who crawled up from the center of the earth to fight each other on the surface. Molten rock has deformed their bodies and warped their beastly minds. Now, Carnivores use their Ax-L Action to roam and unfamiliar world and wreak havoc. With special attack features, every battle is survival of the fiercest.
Soooo...all it takes is molten rock to make a monster? And how the Hell does that explain the car parts on/in their bodies? Eh, just tip back a cold one and forget it. Who cares? Maybe if I drive to the center of the Earth, I'd come back as a cool monster? I'm goin' for it...now just to find a big drill. In the meantime, here's the gang.
Keep in mind that each figure conveniently has their name somewhere on the underside of the toy near the manufacturer stamp. Nice! You'll never forget the name! Unless someone scratches it off...much like a guy in a chop shop might rip off the VIN number on a non-monster car.
There are smaller figures and larger ones with three action features instead of the two the smaller ones have.
First up is Iron Claw!
Cool, but my least favorite. Also the smallest. It's a weird mesh of slug, leech, and other aquatic-looking beast bits...with big-ass metal claws and hooks all over...plus a big engine coming out of its back. Push it along and the limbs flail. Push down on the back hook claw and the front one jabs down.
Next up is Chomper.
It's basically a weird frog-like monster but with extra limbs and teeth! Also, the obligatory car parts jutting out of him/her/it. There also appears to be shackles and chains on its limbs. A slave! Egads! Damn Confederates!
Chomper Unchained:
No, still chained. Aside from the same roll and limb flail routine, you push down on the pipe apparatus on its backside and Chomper...er...chomps. Who knew?
Next? Buzz Off. No...not the Masters of the Universe guy. A giant cyborg bee with bat wings. Honestly? The more I think about it, this needs to be a movie.
Unless this is a drone, I'm assuming it's female. Imagine a whole hive of these! Okay, push the figure and the wings flap. Give Buzz Off the ol' reach around and pull the stinger...aaaand the silver crest on her head launches like a missle! Bitchin'.
The crest/missile is like a mini version of Buzz Off...maybe a drone. And, another beast in bonds...like Chomper, this critter is in chains. Someone was trying to keep these beasts hidden. I smell a better origin story!
Now for Spitfire!
If Killamari from Street Sharks had a car.
Basically, a weird mollusk monster. Very squid-like. Mutant squid, to be exact. God...you gotta love the 90s. I love when toy companies got it right. Yeah, sometimes day-glo colors suck. Other times transparent parts can look bad if misused. Metallic paint jobs can be overdone. But some toys just combined these in an ass-kicking way. Carnivores and the Kenner Aliens lines, baby! They looked great.
Push it, and the tentacles slop around as if Spitfire was crawling. The front, upper ones move as if grabbing or trying to corral prey into its gaping maw of teeth. Push that obvious blaze orange tank, and water sprays out...oh, excuse me..."VENOM".
That's enough o' that.
Onto the big boys! Yeah, I guess you can say these are "deluxe" figures. There is one more "basic", but I'll get back to it.
First up is Venom Spitter. Gee...more "venom". Someone at Matchbox was hurtin' for a squirtin'!
Like the smaller Carnivores, you just roll it along and the limbs-on-wheels kinda flop around or whatever. This guy apparently has "real clubbing action" or something. This is in reference to the stocky, blunt limbs but I like to pretend Venom Spitter hits up dem clubz, dawg! Yeeeeah boi!
This thing is the most un-obvious mutant. The other look like some kinda animal. This thing has elements of reptile, insect, mammal (sort of) and maybe mollusk? Also has the usual jutting car parts sticking out. Oddly, enough, the front hand is clutching what appears to be a sharp blade or weapon. A shiv? Hey, half these guys are in chains. Monster prison break! Aw yeah, my fanfic is blossoming nicely.
Other action gimmicks are a water spray thinger and a biting action. Push the rubbery "brain" on its back and it sprays "venom" from the mouth area. Push on the engine and the upper body rears up and more fangs pop out. Weird how this thing has no lower jaw. A club-hittin', stabbin', squirty squirt squirtin' machine! HOTCHA!!!
Now for the only Carnivore without wheels...Bite Wing!
Instead of being modeled around a car, this thing is modeled after a helicopter. The beast aspect is mostly bat, but it also has some insect elements. A neat combination. Pull the trigger beneath the abdomen and the rotor blades spin. Classic. You can also make the long, needle-like fangs pop out. This thing can really...put the bite on you...eh heh ( oh, just shoot me). As you can also probably see, Bite Wing seems to have two remora-like symbiotes riding on his/her/its helicopter landing struts.
Instead of a third action gimmick, you get two removeable drone buddies. No names. Each has moving arms. I guess they are kinda like bombs? They have no wings, so I assume Bite Wing just plops 'em both into crowds of people and watches the fun from above...then picks up "the kids" after they finish playing.
Back to the smaller, basic Carnivores for a sec. I got all these carded. And none of the cardbacks showed this guy: Skull Shooter. Weird.
A semi-humanoid monster made of decomposed parts...has green hair remnants and a cracked skull, revealing gooey brains!
Ooh! What does it do? My mind is boggling! Oh yes, it shoots its skull...hence the name. Aside from the classic roll along action, you can fire its head off like a missile. I guess all that head bashing is why Skull Shooter has a busted up noggin. Eh, zombies were never much for smarts...and zombie cars are no exception.
So, if Skull Shooter was not pictured on most of the cardbacks...are there OTHER unadvertised Carnivores out there? Like I said before, it was hard to find a decent database of these toys. They have such a generic name, after all. Who knows. In time, we'll probably see.
Oh, and beeteedubblya...don't aim the thing at your face...it fires off hard and fast! Damn thing has a hair trigger to boot. Watch it.
Here's an example of the packaging. Glorious 90s neon!
Fighting, biting, starting wars...nothing can stop them: CAR-NI-VORES!!!
They look nice 
