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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

A Bug's Life: Complete Action Figure and Vehicle Collection


Here is the full set of Mattel's A Bug's Life action figures to go along with that awesome anthill play set posted earlier! Like the play set, these are all my original figures and vehicles I got Christmas 1998 still with all of their accessories. 

First is Tuck and Roll with spider web trampoline! They can "tuck" and they can be attached together to "roll." 
 


Enemy Molt...With "head butting action!"
 

Princess Atta with warrior gear! Includes staff launcher, warrior wings and shield. Obviously this gear never appeared in the movie, but it works here with the figure.
 

Enemy Hopper! Press the button on his back for "kick striking action!"
 

Warrior Flik with "battle nut weapons" (again, not seen in the film). Press the nutshell on his back for "nut-chuck" (Ha! Totally just made that up) swinging action! Includes a rack to hang the weapons on when not in use. 
 

Francis and Slim 2-pack! Open up Francis's wings to reveal "twin blasting launchers!" Comes with two nails to fire at attacking grasshoppers. Slim is the holder of the nails when not in use, Ha! Where did Mattel come up with some of this stuff? 
 

This is probably the most movie accurate Flik of the bunch (just the figure alone), Inventor Flik with "launching catapult". This device made up by Mattel is, again, not seen in the movie but resembles his harvester machine seen at the beginning of the film. 
 

Hang Glider Flik with leaf hangs glider and "berry blaster"(also not seen in the film).
 

The Battle Bird! Based off of and similar to the bird built by the ants in the film but not 100% accurate. It's still a very fun toy though with firing cherry bombs and flapping wings action (squeeze legs together)! Seats two figures. 
 

This Circus Battle Wagon is also based off the movie and is not the exact cookie box wagon you see P.T. Flea driving in the film. It has an exclusive (and removable) P.T. flea figure and hide away/firing weapons (pull down lever and they pop open). Also, push it along to see the "wobbly wheel action!" The wagon bobs up and down to give the effect of a loose wheel.
 

 Store the projectiles in the wagon when not in use.
 

In addition to the main action figure collection, two other "army builder" 3-packs were also released that go along with this line. Each set includes two ants and one grasshopper-all in fighting mode. First was called Bug Battalion and the other was called Scout Squad. These are more "basic/simplistic figures" and do not have any action features.

Bug Battalion 
 

Scout Squad (Added to my collection on 9/17/14)

It brings back memories to now have one of these sets still in the package. Below you can see how the whole collection was shown on the back of the box.


When this figure collection was released, I remember wondering (even at eight years old) why they didn't release some of the other main characters from the film in this line! It really bugged me (wink), so I found these other Mattel "bendable" figures (called "Bend-eez") at the store to go along with this action figure collection. It gave me the chance to get some of the characters that were not released any other way...and they go perfectly fine with the other ones! Here we have Dim, Manny, Heimlich, Rosie and Dot. Also released in the Bend-eez collection were Slim, Hopper, Princess Atta and Francis (which I didn't get since I had them represented in the standard action figure line).

The only main characters that I still wish were part of either of these figure lines are The Queen and Gypsy...why didn't they just make them?! The gang here feels incomplete with out them. I remember actually calling Mattel when I was around eight years old and asking them if they ever planned on releasing them...the answer was no. The Queen totally could have made a cool action figure! I pictured launching Aphie from the Queen's crown or something.
 

A Bug's life, I feel, is sometimes underestimated or forgotten...But is one of my favorite Pixar films to date (well, they're all my favorite, but still)! It has the Pixar magic and heart we love and is definitely an animated classic—not to mention a breakthrough in animation. My inspiration for this post (to give A Bug's Life some love here on my blog) came from the current "Pixar Perspective" over at the Pixar Times...head over there for their thoughts on the film and remember the legacy!

3 comments:

  1. Very nice set - I've never even seen it before! Nice pun with the fact that it "bugged you"!

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  2. Thanks for checking it out guys! It's an honor for me to have you looking through this blog and I appreciate the comment! It's a rare thing I post something you've never seen...thought you have probably seen it all! And yah, glad you caught my little pun : )

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    1. I wish we had seen it all...but unfortunately there is so much out there some of it is bound to slip through the cracks! I'm glad you're posting all this older stuff so I can "see it all" now! :)

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