Wasn't sure where to put this, but what makes something a "fighter" figure. Is it just declaring it as such? Is there something that would be inherent to the designation such as style, size, paint, theme, etc...?
Clothing seems to be common & Mash up potential. 3-point articulation. Maybe size? Fight figures have to fit in the palm of your hand or they seem like something else to me. I’ve thought about this as well. but then, mutant chaos and some of the RxH fighter don’t wear clothes. More of a size range and articulation thing I guess.
Gotcha, that makes sense. I was looking at old Tiger Mask stuff and it got me wondering... I guess context wise, a fight figure is a more modern designation?
Fight figures were originally developed by Take-shit, and subsequently, Gargamel and Secret Base, and they were literally 'fight figures' that would fight each other in a ring. The characters had their own back stories, rivalries, etc. These early fight figures combined the super-deformed martial artist body with heads that paid homage to vintage toys and kaiju. I know that companies such as RxH, Rumble Monsters, Blobpus, etc. have been brought under the fight figure umbrella definition, but I think it was more a matter of them being developed around the same time. Most of them do not have any relationship to the original fight figures, and exist in their own continuity. I would strongly recommend reading the old Super7 magazines, particularly, Vol. 4 No. 2 (the Micronauts issue) to understand the history of fight figures.
Agreed on the Blobpus/Rumble Monsters - to me they never seemed to have anything in common with fight figures. I think part of it is that fight figures have a general humanoid form (hence pants!), so something like Chronic would fit in alongside SB, Gargamel, and RxH, but Blobpus/RM do not.
Daniel gave a fantastic classifying descriptor, as well as a couple wonderful resources for information with the specific Super7 magazines. I’m gonna ring even further in this thread’s ear that I’ve never found RxH, Rumble Monsters or Blobpus to ever have fight figures. I think they were lumped in for not only the time in which they were released, but also the general size of them all being similar to actual fighters released. Adding to Take - Shit, Gargamel and Secret Base’s legacies of fighters, Sin&Wombat Toys’ Chicken Fever is one of the coolest fight figures released. I call it Muay Thai Chicken because of its stance, mainly the arms. Piling on to the details Daniel provided, fight figures also don fighter gear. Trunks, sap/boxing gloves, wrestling onesies, champion belts, wrapped hands/wrists/feet, judo gi, etc.
So this is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart so I feel like I have to chime in. The original fighters were all 3POA about 4.25-4.5" and based in some form of sports combat. THOSE RULES ARE NOT DEFINITIVE. Example: things like the DBM have no design cue pointing to hand to hand combat nor does the Astro Brain. but they are still considered fight figures. I think the design idea evolved during its original run to be action figure esque characters in an art/soft vinyl design style. That said some figures like the RxH stuff are out of scale and thus don't fit in to the shared universe the OG fight lines created. BUT THE CHIKEN FEVER FOR SURE DOES. All of this said i'm glad this was brought up because I never get to clarify my stance on the KVLTVS line. KVLTVS are 100% Fight Figures. Same Size. Same POA. Same Mentality. The main difference with OG fight vs KVLTVS is I chose to expand the concept. We already had boxers, muay thai chickens, wrestlers, MMA rats. Sports combat was pretty much covered. So I chose to up the ante. The idea behind KVLTVS is that is isn't just a fight it's a battle. It's swords and axes and a fight to the death. With Hooligan City there is a lot more to the concept that we haven't discussed that helps to implement more of the fight style. But with Sling Shot Supply Co making there Fink Fighters now and DEVILS HEAD doing their MAD MONK its nice to see the Fight style coming back. BONUS! I know of a bunch more Fight to Come...
The OG RxH figs w/ pants (Chaosman, Bigaro, Mutant, Evil,...) seem like ff's, but not the Chaos..He doesn't wear pants. He's just a pervert.
I feel like thats an opinion situation it never really worked for me I honestly only own the Thrashout set. The size is weird and the like tower over the other fight figures but not in a way that makes sense.
Nothing about the RxH figures of any assortment ever read fight figures to me. Torn shorts/pants just kinda looked punk - ish to me, and everything else, hands, fingers, feet, all look extraterrestrial. They’re standalone characters existing solely in Mori’s universe, in my opinion. But not the fighter realm.
Super 7’s Stomp definitely seems like a fighter and he didn’t have pants. And S7s Snakes of Infinity line seem fighterish. Chicken Fever would totally stomp Donald’s pantless butt in a wrassle
I always imaged the original Real Head mutants as little alien wrestlers—semi-muscular build, open but tense hands that look like they're ready to grapple, wearing only a pair of shorts and a couple of sweatbands on their wrists. The old header art with the two Mutant Evils even look like they're about to face off in a match. Perhaps they don't fit a more strict definition if you consider Take-Shit's design elements to set the bar for entry, but I can definitely see why one would view them as fighters.
I always felt that although RxH isn’t “textbook” (the “book” still being written at that time anyway with a very limited vocabulary), they were Mori’s take on the fighter. Not sure if Mori considered them fight figures or if he just dabbled with the idea Even now, he does things his own way that is hard to categorize. HBcoffin mentioned the header art, there was “Chaos Fighter” mash ups. Also Mummy glove has boxing mitts on and never felt out of place. The open hands gave me the TMNT vibe —along with the colorful characters (made me also think of the M.U.S.C.L.E. line). If we were all just to use Fink Shit’s design cues, the genre would get pretty old pretty fast. Eventually you gotta branch out or it’s just going to grow stale. Mori—always marching to the beat of his own drum—did something very “punk” and broke some rules—or maybe, as a creator, he didn’t think there were any
