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By K. Thor Jensen January 19, 2012 |
Back in the day, we used to be able to save up coupons or proofs of purchase and, upon collecting enough of them, mail them in to the toy companies for some truly awesome rewards. Alas, the days of the mail-in giveaway are pretty much over, but that's not stopping us from diving back into the vaults of history to bring up the examples of the best mail-in offer toys ever. From seriously collectible Star Wars toys to actual video games, here is the best mail-in offer toys and gear.
| 11 | Mumm-Ra |
The geniuses behind the Thundercats cartoon and toy line made it so, to really replicate the show, you needed to send away for a figure. That figure was the emaciated mummy version of Mumm-Ra, the show's evil antagonist. You could go to stores and buy the buffed-up transformed version of the cadaverous creep, but for the bandage-wrapped pre-morph version you needed to send in six proof of purchase points from the backs of packages. And yes, Mumm-Ra had the "Battle-Matic Action" common to the other figurines.
| 10 | Quakor and Mush Man |
One very common trend for mail-in offer toys is companies using them to tie in with popular toy lines. Some of these tie-ins are awesome and some of them are awesomely hilarious. Case in point, the creation of Quakor and his evil nemesis Mush Man. If you examine the photograph, you'll see that it looks like the Quaker Oats mascot's head on a He-Man body, and that's exactly what it is. These two were given away to Masters of the Universe fans who saved up proofs of purchase from oatmeal boxes and sent them in.
| 9 | Ambush Predator |
Another common trend in mail-in offer toys is offering recolored versions of already-existing products. Most of these are pretty lame, but, in the case of Kenner's awesome Ambush Predator giveaway, it was awesome. The 1993 Aliens Vs Predator toy line was based on the popular comics of the era, and if you saved enough proofs of purchase you could ship them in for this awesome Predator figurine that was cast in transparent plastic to simulate the monster's cloaking device. Pretty sweet.
| 8 | Stormtrooper Han Solo |
Kenner's Star Wars toy line was notorious for mail-in offer toys, featuring a wide spectrum of characters from the original trilogy. Some were kind of lame - the pick for the Return of the Jedi line was Admiral Ackbar - but some owned. In 1995, Kenner got back into the Star Wars game with a new set of figures dubbed "Power Of The Force." At ten inches tall with more detailed sculpts, they quickly sold out. The mail-in offer toy, however, remains one of the rarest. Han Solo in Stormtrooper armor was only available by sending in proofs of purchase from specially-marked boxes of Froot Loops.
| 7 | Sgt. Slaughter |
G.I. Joe had a ton of different mail-in offer toys over the course of the 80s, and we might just be revisiting them a little down the line. One of the most coveted and awesome of the figures, however, is Sgt. Slaughter, based on the WWF wrestler and paragon of hard-assed military justice. In 1985, Hasbro introduced Slaughter as a mail-in offer toy, but he proved so popular that they released new versions of him every year until 1990, when he started his pro-Iraqi heel turn in the ring.
quincy lloyd - Thu. May. 10, 2012 at 05:38:22 AM
DA Bears.
The G.I. Joe mail in list included Refrigerator Perry (who came wielding a football on a chain) and another one (who's codename I forget and too lazy to google) who you could name after yourself. He came with a patch, and I think they repackaged him as a pilot. I mowed a lot of yards for both to get the UPC points.
Martin Mandy - Tue. Apr. 10, 2012 at 11:05:27 AM
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Andrew Guinn - Tue. Feb. 21, 2012 at 05:34:45 PM
WRONG!
The actual rocket firing Boba Fett was not a bootleg. They are unpainted official Keller toys given to employees and toy store execs. Never seen a bootleg.
Randy - Fri. Jan. 27, 2012 at 09:21:37 AM
Cobra Commander
Good Call on the hooded Cobra Commander. I ordered that thru the mail. The cartoon did explain why he wore a mask. In the mini-series about Cobra-La and Serpetor, they showed Cobra Commander's back-story as a scientist. He had some chemicals disfigure his face and grow a bunch of eyes all over his face.
K.Thor Jensen - Fri. Jan. 27, 2012 at 04:24:13 PM
No, I know that
But why did he sometimes wear the metal mask and sometimes the hood? That is the question.
Belly Billboard - Sun. Jan. 22, 2012 at 09:42:49 PM
Mail me Mushman!
What kind of sick kid wanted to get the Mushman action figure? I bet he grew up to become some kind of sociopath committing oatmeal themed crimes all across the city. Too bad for the citizens, Quaker man doesn't use technology so nobody could inform him that he was needed. A nice barn was raised though.