Multiplep and Steelblade They Fight Gormiti Series II 2-Pack Item No.: Asst. 01500 No. 01512 Manufacturer: Playmates Includes: 2 figures, 2 cards Action Feature: Steelblade changes color to clear when heated Retail: $5.99 Availability: 2009 Other: ...and bite
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Working full-time in the toy business doesn't mean you get to see everything. I completely ignored Gormiti until recently, when I found this set on the clearance rack for under two bucks. The Playmates Gormiti Multiplep and Steelblade struck me as interesting, in part because the figures have several factions and fight, plus they're largely based on animals or things in nature. So in short, it's like Battle Beasts but not, plus it's an Italian line rather than a Japanese one. Each set has rules and cards for your figures to fight, and truth be told there's not much to them. Unfortunately I'm enamored with small animal warrior toys, and anything that's not a 3 3/4-inch super-articulated figure for adult collectors is now officially a real novelty. How could I not try this out?

For you 1980s toy people, these are less Battle Beasts and more Monster in my Pocket, with the key difference being that these guys are actually painted. When you get right down to it, these are basically more expensive Homies, a neat collectible line with slightly smaller appeal. Kids were pretty into this line for a brief time, and it's one of those lines that goes on the aisle in between the superheroes for kids and the superheroes for collectors at the Toys R Us. Not Star Wars, not sports, but those other, weird little aisles which include 2-inch robots and other items which you'll never see again and, in 15 years, some kid is going to pine for. Each normal-sized Gormiti figure measures just about 2-inches tall, but there are larger ones. These little rubber guys could very easily appeal to the obsessive collector in you, the one that bought all the Pokemon PVCs and boxes of Kanohi from Bionicle or other little things.

The reason I bought this particular set was Octoplep, a weird little guy who (according to his trading card) is made up of five beings with one soul. You can see he's basically a squid for a head with an octopus standing in for or clinging to his various limbs, effectively giving him something like 32 arms, The figure has 3 shades of blue on his person, zero accessories, no articulation, and really, the appeal is hard to get. When I saw the guy, I thought "Oh! It's an animal monster. I would like that." Now that I opened it up, I cannot say exactly what I'm going to do with it. I really do like some of the playset designs in the line, but haven't picked up any yet-- so this thing is probably going to sit around on my desk until I move or clean up in a few months. There's not a lot of texture on the sculpt, so I think the average collector may shrug at such a figure. It's not a bad figure, it's just that the value isn't obviously there. Hasbro's new Playskool Adventures line nets you two fully-articulated figures for six bucks, so really, there's no comparison. Gormiti were capsule machine toys sold for action figure prices.

The figures are not sold individually, so the "Sea Tribe" monster is joined by the "Volcano Tribe" member Steelblade the Cutthroat. Described on the packaging as an "Atomic Color-Changing Figure," this red figure is painted yellow and red, but his red plastic pieces will turn clear when heated. I set him up on my computer so I can see visually how my machine is heating up. He has a little more texture than his blue counterpart, but the added details and scales don't make it obvious just what the heck he's supposed to be. I'm assuming it's a rock/reptile hybrid, and he has hooks for hands. Both figures stand on their own quite well, but outside the game (which I'm not going to describe) the only real play is picking one up and smacking the other with it. Which, I might add, is a classic play pattern.

As of today the product is more or less done. If there were a Kay-Bee, you'd see it there for years. As it stands Toys R Us seems to be trying to get rid of its remaining stock, and at an average price of $1 per figure they're actually quite compelling. Not that I or any of you need new toy lines to discover and purchase, but I'm largely happy with this 2-pack. (I also bought a 4-pack but haven't examined it closely yet. It has a mushroom warrior!) While they don't compete with any of the major lines we review here, and most minifigure 2-pack lines are technically superior creations, their beastly appearances are fun and endearing. I don't know why any creature would be made of squids, or why a creature made of squids would have blue "legs" and a torso with what seems to be a defined chest on it, but it exists and now it's part of the 16bit.com offices. I think it's a safe bet I will buy a few more.

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