Tonka 1987
I’m going to show my complete ignorance of this line because I never knew it existed. That’s saying a lot for me as I am a total 80’s toy nerd and these guys are way cool! Plus, one of our goals here at Rewind is to educate, not only you the reader but myself as well.
Spiral zone was a Sci-Fi animated series back in 1987. There were 65 episodes, and they that told the story of a group of soldiers who were trying to free the world from the control of a group of scientists that had taken command over the worlds surface after a mad scientist, Dr. James Bent, aka Overlord, covers the earth with devices called Zone Generators that covers the region with… The Spiral Zone.
Millions become trapped in these zones and it turns them into “Zoners”, zombie like beings with red splotched skin and yellow eyes all under the control of Overlord. Overlord now sits atop his throne located in the Chrysler building commanding his Zoner army. He is supported by a group of followers known as The Black Widows, a group immune to the Spiral Zone thanks to a device called the Widow Maker. They are Duchess Dire, Reaper, Bandit, Razorback, Raw Meat and Crook.
To fight back the rest of the world not under the zone effect form a team of five soldiers equipped with special suits to keep them safe from the effects of the zone generators. These Earth defenders are called the Zone Riders.
The American cartoon was eventually dubbed into Japanese and aired in Japan.
Ok, that is an awesome story line and needs to be made into a sci-fi movie with a slight horror lean!
Here is the cool thing, the series was based around a line of figures produced by Bandai in 1985-1988. They were released in Japan until Tonka acquired the license and decided to create their own storyline as well as releasing the toys.
First, let’s take a look at the original line that inspired the Tonka line and cartoon. The Japanese suits were conceptualized by designers Kunio Okawara and Kazuhisa Kondo, who had also worked on Gundam. Special Force Group Spiral Zone series were a team of soldiers fighting a war in the early 21st century. The line had three 6” figures. There was Bull Solid, Hyper Boxer, and Sentinel Bear. There were also two Bull Solid uniform and armor sets, two Hyper Boxer uniform and armor sets, two equipment backpacks, two bare human figures, and one vehicle called the Monoseed. These figures had 30 points of articulation which was crazy for the time.
The Tonka line released 4 of the 5 Zone Riders as well as all The Black Widows, their vehicles, 6 uniform packs and 6 equipment packs. The figures were 7” and based off the American series. The sculpts were extremely detailed but the American line did not offer as much articulation as their predecessors. They did however come with an audio cassette tape with an exciting adventure you could listen to!
It was difficult to find an accurate price range on these guys as everything I found jumped from $35 all the way up to $250 and I found no real rhyme or reason for it. My best advice if you’re interested in collecting these awesome figures would be to do your homework before bidding.
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Until next we speak my friend remember, when it comes to Rewind Toys, the hunt is half the fun!
This is Jason Emmitt, signing off.
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