Inhumanoids

[The One and Only]

Flint Dille, the main writer on the Inhumanoids. Had said in an interview of the animation fanzine, Cereal:Geek. That before the toy line, and series cancellation. He had a couple of scripts intended for the show's second season written, and had them lying around some where in his possession.

I started another thread on the Evil That Lies within on the Transformers forum ,and website Seibertron.com(http://www.seibertron.com/). During the discussions on the show, and toyline that spawned it. A gent by the handle of Spin-Master(http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/memeberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=114512), also signs his post with Dave. Talked about he was one of the concept artists on the show, and being the fan of the Inhumanoids that I am ask if he had any of the artwork available for posting. And he did.
The first is the back to the blister card for Anatoly Kiev, a.k.a. Tank.
http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/download/file.php?id=32843&mode=view
The next contains a pics of the blister card backs to Nightcrawler, Blackthorne, and Sabre Jet. Also featured unpainted prototypes of the figures for Tank, Blackthorne, and Sabre Jet. Also along with sketches of Nightcrawler, and Herc. We also have an earlier, more vicious design for Blackthorne in his armor. And last but not least, is a sketch of new ally for the Earth Corps on the bottom right who went by the name of BRAIN-MAN.
http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/download/file.php?id=32844&mode=view
As I mentioned before about plans ,and even scripts for Season Two of the Inhumanoids were made. According to Dave/Spin-Master, things were also planned for the Third Series of the Inhumanoid figures, and the show. And according to Spin-Master, Earth Corps war with the Inhumanoids would've have taken an even darker turn when they encountered the DEVIL himself. The Devil in this franchise looking to be something in the world of the Inhumanoids looking like something terrorizing Kurt Russel and friends in John Carpenter's THE THING as you can can see by his design on the top left.
http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/download/file.php?id=32845&mode=view
Also featured is some artwork of two creatures who could've been either servants of the Devil. Although the big one with the trunk could be one of Nightcrawler's creations. Also featured is some pics of a prototype Nightcrawler figure.
Finally, some sketches of Nightcrawler unmasked. Also it looks like he would've gotten a beast of some kind to ride around on. A pic of Auger with a fully painted Tank. Sketches of an unknown character who went from cyborg, to looking like he was made of stone. An early design for Metlar. And a rather massive, unpainted prototype of one of the show's nastiest denizens. THE GAGOYLE.
http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/download/file.php?id=32867&mode=view

[The One and Only]

Show your love for Tendril courtesy of this t-shirt entitled "Rise, Tendril, Rise !"

Thanks to guys and gals at Teepublic.com.
http://www.teepublic.com/show/126707-rise-tendril-rise

[erisk]

This is a great thread! I LOVE Inhumanoids! I actually just got some original artwork from Richard Marcej from the line. I got the art work for the unreleased Sssslither figure, as well as the cardback for Tankmaster among other things. If anyone is interested I'd be happy to post scans. This was a great line, and I wish it was remembered more. Guys in tech suits fighting giant monsters: a Kaiju fans' heaven as far as I'm concerned. I checked out those links The One and Only, and that artwork is fantastic. But it was the prototypes that got me! Gagoyal! Anyway, happy to post scans if anyone is interested.

[The One and Only]

I'm interested in seeing the scans whenever you can. The more Inhumanoids the better.
According to INHUMANOIDS show runner, Flint Dille, he has a few scripts for the sadly never seen planned second season of the series lying around his residence. And according to the bloke who provided the sketches, Dave McDonald, things were planned out for the toy line up to the third series of figures. McDonald had said things were set to get pretty dark for the line by then. Especially with the Devil, who was set as one of the human sized "Evil Scientist" figures released. I wonder if he was supposed to be related to the Inhumanoid line as the Quintessons were to the Transformers ?

[erisk]

Sorry for the delayed response. I haven't been back here in awhile. Amazing stuff about Dilles scripts! I would kill to read those! They wanted to go darker? Man, that would really have pissed off the parents groups. Man, only Hasbro/Sunbow would have the guts to put the Devil in their toy line (over here anyway). I'm actually not sure how to post pics on here. If you go to the Inhumanoids page on Facebook, I put them up there.

[The One and Only]

Sorry for the delayed response. I haven't been back here in awhile. Amazing stuff about Dilles scripts! I would kill to read those! They wanted to go darker? Man, that would really have pissed off the parents groups. Man, only Hasbro/Sunbow would have the guts to put the Devil in their toy line (over here anyway). I'm actually not sure how to post pics on here. If you go to the Inhumanoids page on Facebook, I put them up there.

I mentioned this over in another forum on the subject of the devil showing up in a kids' show. One has to remember that in the Eighties people in general weren't so uptight about the Devil being depicted on cartoons, even Saturday morning, network fare. Looney Tunes had the Devil show up on a few of the cartoons aired. Hell's Angels I first heard of on a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The Real Ghostbusters had a few episodes referencing Old Scratch, one of which had the Ghostbusters showing up on Hell's own game show where Ray was a contestant. One of the questions asked what were some of the various names the Devil went by, and Ray belted out pretty much all of them. It wasn't until the Nineties that people started getting uptight on the subject of the Fallen One. The episode of Ghostbusters that I mentioned, ended up being pulled out of the rotation when it was rerun on the Family Channel because of its Satanic references. Even in this era where our children seem to be bubble wrapped from everything harmful, both mentally and physically. I could still see the Devil being used in the line. Just give him another name like Baal or Demonicus, that doesn't raise too many hackles.

[erisk]

That's actually a good observation. I guess it just feels like they were more uptight in the 80's. I can remember watching the news with my dad and they were interviewing some wacko about how damaging He-Man was to little kids. I thought my dad was going to take away my toys. He just looked at me and smiled and said "let's go buy some more". Coolest dad ever! Anyway, whether they called him the Devil or something else, it would have been equally as cool. I'd love to see how final figure would have turned out. Did you get to see the images I posted over on Facebook? If not, I can figure out how to get them up here. Have you heard of Warpo toys? They're making a 12 in Cthullu figure. Seems like it would go great with Inhumanoids!

[The One and Only]

That's actually a good observation. I guess it just feels like they were more uptight in the 80's. I can remember watching the news with my dad and they were interviewing some wacko about how damaging He-Man was to little kids. I thought my dad was going to take away my toys. He just looked at me and smiled and said "let's go buy some more". Coolest dad ever! Anyway, whether they called him the Devil or something else, it would have been equally as cool. I'd love to see how final figure would have turned out. Did you get to see the images I posted over on Facebook? If not, I can figure out how to get them up here. Have you heard of Warpo toys? They're making a 12 in Cthullu figure. Seems like it would go great with Inhumanoids!

I always kind of thought things were sort've going the opposite in Eighties. Yeah, of course you had some needle butts that thought toys like the Masters of the Universe line were a product of the Devil. Like Dungeons & Dragons, and heck there was the teleflick, Mazes & Monsters ,starring Tom Hanks, where he got lost in the game and couldn't tell fantasy from reality. Also on the left side of the tracks, we had Phil Donahue bashing kids' shows like G.I. Joe and THE TRANSFORMERS as making a violent generation of youths. Even heard last year on Coast To Coast AM, one guy being interviewed about a book of conspiracies he wrote saying G.I.Joe was a plan by the military/industrial complex to indoctrinate children into the military. But around the time the Inhumanoids came out, VHS/Home Video was in full swing at the time. And most of my friends were renting every horror flick that hit the shelves hand over fist. So, the line's darker tones seemed to always go with what kids, more often than not, boys, were into. It wasn't until the Nineties that political correctness ,and Family Values started becoming a trend, that some of the fun with childhood began to be leaked out.

Watching for the first time the Inhumanoids episode, The Surma Plan, I thought to myself that that particular episode wouldn't make it today. Not because of the violence. But because in these uptight times, some would find it rather offensive that it played so heavily with Cold War themes. United States Vs. The Soviet Union. And how vicious they were. Although in hindsight, it was the KGB agent ,and some his bosses that were the real heavies in the course of the episode.

I did see your posts on the Inhumanoids Facebook page. I hadn't really see that close up of Nightcrawler ugly mug before unmasked. I had seen the colored sketch of Ssslither previous, just no by himself.

[Cosmonaut_Chimp]

Wow. This thread brought a tear to my eye! LOL

Love the Inhumanoids, and I have a fan site at Facebook that is really an interactive petition to gain some momentum on the Inhumanoids. Flint Dille and Buzz Dixon pop in occasionally, but I'd love more fans and esp. artwork - so to the gentlemen above, please do feel free to post your scans and pics!

https://www.facebook.com/Hasbro-should- ... 197476004/

Now - as for the Devil appearing in Inhumanoids - I always thought they'd touch upon this with Metlar being the inspiration for the "myth" of the devil, but that's pretty cool they had a separate character lined up.

If anyone here has read the sci-fi book "The Descent" by Jeff Long, which is about a world discovered inside the Earth's crust and the exploration and profiteering of it, there is discovered a race subterranean beings called the Hadals, and one of them is indeed named Satan and is the reality behind the myth, and he's lived for so long due to transferring his conscience to another body. It's pretty cool to think that a toyline might've had this concept almost 16 years prior.

[The One and Only]

Wow. This thread brought a tear to my eye! LOL

Love the Inhumanoids, and I have a fan site at Facebook that is really an interactive petition to gain some momentum on the Inhumanoids. Flint Dille and Buzz Dixon pop in occasionally, but I'd love more fans and esp. artwork - so to the gentlemen above, please do feel free to post your scans and pics!

https://www.facebook.com/Hasbro-should- ... 197476004/

Now - as for the Devil appearing in Inhumanoids - I always thought they'd touch upon this with Metlar being the inspiration for the "myth" of the devil, but that's pretty cool they had a separate character lined up.

If anyone here has read the sci-fi book "The Descent" by Jeff Long, which is about a world discovered inside the Earth's crust and the exploration and profiteering of it, there is discovered a race subterranean beings called the Hadals, and one of them is indeed named Satan and is the reality behind the myth, and he's lived for so long due to transferring his conscience to another body. It's pretty cool to think that a toyline might've had this concept almost 16 years prior.

I had heard a lot about the book, and picked it up. And there was a movie in development with David Goyer writing the adaptation. Nothing happened. Unfortunately, I think it was somewhere around the section where a group of characters got together to hunt down Satan that things went downhill for me,and the book became a little bit of a chore to read through. The first half with the exploration, and exploitation of the subterranean world was quite interesting. Not to mention the rather inhumane treatment of the Hadals. And their own raids on the surface. In one related note, the intelligent ,snail creatures that captured Earth Corps in Negative Polarity, the Langastoids. Were later revealed to work for Tendrill, and also had an addiction to fast foods. And in the big battle in Auger...For President !?!? , the Langastoids were taken out of the fight with a truckload of fast, junk food. I just always had this image in my noggin if the Inhumanoids continued, or were brought back as comics, or some other form. News coverage of Langatoids launching various raids on the surface world on grocery stores, and fast food chains for that addictive junk food.

Anywho, this week I did some shopping at Spirit Halloween for some decorations ,and somesuch. One of the things I spotted, but didn't pick up, were one of these bone spiders.

Reminded me of D-Compose's undead minions that we spotted in Primal Passions and The Masterson Team.

Would've gone nicely with my D-Compose figure that I got for Christmas last year.

[Cosmonaut_Chimp]

Oh those bone spiders would go flawlessly with D'Compose!

Anyways - I posted the pics up on my wall and tagged Flint Dille in to see them! He was excited as he hadn't seen some.

Now, he was very careful to say not to take his word as truth, simply because it's been 29 years.

But not to burst any bubbles, he said it was very unlikely that the character of the devil would've appeared and he didn't call writing any of it. He's going to try and recover his season two scripts off his old Macintosh diskettes. But again he didn't think that the devil sounded accurate as he said it's unlikely Hasbro would've let such a religious icon of evil on in children's TV show (that's not say it wouldn't have had a more sinister name at least addressing it's diabolical roots).

He did recall the monster next to the devil, with the pop-out eyes and aquatic features - he said it's name was Splooge (not really Splooge; it was a name like Splooge he couldn't recall but all intents and purpose it was Splooge) - he didn't say whether it was a mutire or Inhumanoid.

Some of the other ones he drew a blank on, so it could be they never made it to him as inclusions to the series two episodes as the production was scrapped.

He told me in our phone interview that the Inhumanoids toyline was cancelled before the first episode even aired, as orders were small. He asked Tom Griffin, fellow producer (who really fleshed out the story concept for Hasbro) why it happened, and Tom said it was because the toyline was a misbegotten idea that was poorly executed. "Kids couldn't handle the reality of the toys." Tom said, producing a Tendril that was on a shelf behind his desk. He tried to make it walk and it was bulky and cumbersome, you had to take time to reposition the arms, put the figure in it, clunk-it around. They got bored quick.

At the time Hasbro was all about duality; with Transformers, you got both a Robot Action Figure AND Toy Car. With Jem you got "two dolls" in one (the singer and her alter ego). The concept of Inhumanoids was that when you purchased one of the Inhumanoids themselves, you were getting an action figure AND a playset.

Add in the fact your toyline is centered around and named after the monsters, you had grotesque-looking characters and a $50 price tag on the 3 main Inhumanoids, and it all doomed the line before it hit shelves.

***

I can attest to this - my parents, who were usually pretty good about buying my brother and I whatever we wanted within reason at Birthdays and Christmas, refused to get us Inhumanoids. My mother didn't want to look at them in the house because they were ugly, even the good monsters, the Mutores, and my father wouldn't shell out $$$ for the big ones as just one giant action figure.

A few years later around 1988 / 1989, Zayres, a local retail department store, finally got a massive shipment of them (they had never carried them during the original production run). The Earth Corps. figures and Mutores were all $5, the two vehicles sold for $10, and the Inhumanoids themselves sold at $15. Unfortunately, I was already 13 and in 7th grade so toys weren't as interesting to me as much as the girls I was sitting next to in class (don't worry, when I hit 21 I started buying toys again, thanks to a college GF who thought it'd be neat to wander around Toys-R-Us and liked the fact I wasn't partying and blowing money on boozeand encouraged me to take it up as a hobby).

***

As far as the cartoon going off the air, Flint said it was toysales, nothing more. If you don't have a toyline, Hasbro wouldn't fund an expensive series (the animation quality suffered, but the money, I was told, went to the voice actors and Sunbow / Marvel were very generous on providing voice actors and decent story writers so that their cartoon tie-ins would rise above 30 minute commercials.

Flint said it's a myth that Inhumanoids was pulled by parents rights groups due to content (the show featured decrepit backgrounds, heavy use of black shadows on all characters, and brow-raising amount of gore in the form of dismemberments, zombification, animated skeletons, beheadings, and undead resurrection. At one point a character is killed when his body falls into a toxic waste pool and the main villain retrieves him, holding up his skull which has worms coming out of the eye-sockets).

Inhumanoids was sold as a syndicated package and it wasn't shown on the three big networks, only affliates and secondary markets. Syndication allows you to bypass a certain amount of standards and practices (usually on behalf of ABC, CBS and NBC), so that's why they were able to get away with what they did. Flint did say they did have people in house making sure they didn't get too out of hand and it never occurred to him the stuff he was writing would give kids nightmares; he just thought they wanted good monster-action.

[The One and Only]

Interesting bit of news that surfaced this week involving Hasbro and Paramount announced that they're building a shared cinematic universe with Hasbro's stable of characters.
http://generalsjoes.com/2015/12/15/hasbro-to-build-new-connective-cinematic-universe-with-g-i-joe-and-other-brands/#diqus_thread
There had been talk that G.I. JOE 3 would include Matt Trakker from M.A.S.K. . Something not too surprising in the 25th Anniversary Joe figure release back in 2008 with the Specialist Matt Trakker figure.(http://www.yojoe.com/reviews/figures/wave11/matttrakker.shtml) And the big Transformers' writers room headed up by Akiva Goldsman. Among the other properties mentioned are Rom:Spaceknight, Micronauts, and wow, even Visionaries. Although no mention of the long awaited return of the Inhumanoids. However, some say that the product, if brought back by Hasbro. Would end up being gutted by the company, thus sucking whatever fun the short-lived line had out of it ? Thoughts ?

[The One and Only]

Behold the awesomeness of Metlar...in Lego form.

[The One and Only]

Yesterday I was watched a collection of clips featuring the late, lamented TNT MONSTERVISION hosted by Joe Bob Briggs. The night this presentation aired, he was hosting a showing of HALLOWEEN 2. And I noticed on the left side of the bloke, you can see a Tendrill figure in the background. Check it out.

[The One and Only]

Yesterday I was watched a collection of clips featuring the late, lamented TNT MONSTERVISION hosted by Joe Bob Briggs. The night this presentation aired, he was hosting a showing of HALLOWEEN 2. And I noticed on the left side of the bloke, you can see a Tendrill figure in the background. Check it out.


Added in 11 hours 29 minutes 31 seconds:
A cool little site by the name of Statemaster.com has a rather detailed entry on the individual Inhumanoids, Earth Corps, Mutors, and the rest.
http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Inhumanoids

Now, take this with a grain of salt, looking at the Wikipedia entry tonight. It surprised me to read this seeing how I always keep my peepers peeled for any, and all Inhumanoids related material. Back in 2009, Silent Bob himself, Kevin Smith, was rumored to be writing an Inhumanoids revival, with George Pratt(Legends of the Dark Knight), on art. In 2010, Smith on his Facebook page, said it wasn't happening, just a rumor. But he did state, "It was a killer series back in the day,[it's] a shame it didn't last longer, had some really gruesome poop that I wouldn't mind tackling someday."

Added in 22 hours 56 minutes 15 seconds:
Could the return of the Evil That Lies Within be after thirty years finally make their return in the pages of issue five of IDW's G.I. JOE ?
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/01/25/idw-solicitations-april-2017-brings-24-legacy-comics/

Solicit:

" MONSTERS ! G.I Joe has fought Cobra, the Dreadnoks, and more, but never before have they faced threats like this: Gigantic, heaving abominations crawling up from the depths of the Earth itself. As teams of Joes struggle to respond to the unpredictable attacks, Scarlett must decide what to do with the enemy in the team's midst. Plus, the G.I. Joe leader reveals a troubling secret to her second-in-command, Roadblock."

Added in 15 hours 13 minutes 42 seconds:
Interview with the writer/producer of the Marvel/Sunbow G.I. JOE:A Real American Hero ! series of the Eighties, Buzz Dixon. He talks about the lost, dumped episode, "The Most Dangerous Man In The World !", now adapted, and available on Kindle Amazon. Which dealt about the man who was behind the creation, and philosophy behind the ruthless, terrorist organization out to rule the world, COBRA. Also Dixon talks a bit about this thread's topic, the INHUMANOIDS. And what happened with it.

[master_of_monsters]

I'm currently working on some custom figures of the inhumanoids. I've almost finished D'Compose but not very sure which one to make next

[The One and Only]

Added in 12 hours 52 minutes 6 seconds:
Fan made TV spot for a live action INHUMANOIDS flick. Created by a gent who goes by the moniker, JasonVoorhees2011.


Added in 12 hours 21 minutes 3 seconds:
Awhile back I posted some sketches, designs by artist, David McDonald, who designed the Evil Within we all and love for Hasbro. Recently, more specifically yesterday, I found through the fan-made advertisement for an INHUMANOIDS live action flick. A link provided McDonald, to his Facebook page where he unveiled a whole slew artwork. Everything from Hot Wheels, Air Raiders, and last but not least, the INHUMANOIDS. And it's quite a bonanza of stuff. Including some artwork, showing the line had a bit of a different vibe in its inception. Originally it was going to be called LIGHT WARRIORS, and the heroes were a bit more different than the Earth Corps we all knew and loved. Apparently, the environmental suits the team sported in line,and cartoon, were originally intended in the early days of development. Going to be some sort've remote controlled robots, or even mechs from the looks of the sketches. Enjoy.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/David-McDonald-Art-1875172242705905/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1876813992541730

Added in 34 minutes 51 seconds:
Michael Mercy, the bloke behind the interview with Buzz Dixon. Reviews our beloved Evil That Lies Within in the first video here.

[The One and Only]

Michael Mercy's review for the leader of Earth Corps, Herc.


Added in 4 months 1 day 23 hours 34 minutes 50 seconds:
Pixel Dan I came to be familiar with on YouTube with his reviews of Mattel's Matty Collector line of Masters of the Universe figures. One of my favorite net reviewers. I found this old review from Pixel Dan on the Redwood Mutor ,Redsun.


Added in 1 day 27 minutes 10 seconds:
And now something from the lighter side.


Added in 1 month 24 days 21 hours 56 minutes 6 seconds:
Jason Voorhees2011 works the awesome voodoo that he does so well with another INHUMANOIDS fan spot.


Added in 3 months 28 days 5 hours 23 minutes 15 seconds:
Interesting interview with writer Buzz Dixon with an interviewer talking about scaring the little lads and lasses with Saturday Morning cartoons. Most specifically, a rather haunting episode of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS animated series, "The Quest for the Skeleton Warrior" . Which featured some scenes that my ten, eleven year old self found a little frightening. And of course, the reason we're here, the INHUMANOIDS. Which features a bit of promo art that has Earth Corps, and Metlar and his posse looking a bit different than we're used to seeing them.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/saturday-morning-scares-animation-writer-buzz-dixon-art-creeping-kiddos-153825340.html

Added in 3 months 14 days 15 hours 24 minutes 7 seconds:
Video from Toy Universe about our favorite Evil That Lies Within, and a little tidbit that put the kibosh on an attempted revival of the line.


Added in 3 months 27 days 7 hours 38 minutes 43 seconds:
The Full Force podcast. A podcast focusing on G.I. Joe, and its various international lines, Action Force, Argen 7. Does an episode spotlighting the Inhumanoids.
https://thefullforce.podbean.com/e/the-full-force-series-5-episode-5-inhumanoids/

[SonOfGorgo]

This may or mayn't be necroposting, but I'll take the risk anyway.

I would love to see a Primordia series produced by Polygon Animation. Say what you may about Transformers Prime, Robots in Disguise 2015, and even the Godzilla Monster Planet trilogy. At least the transformers and monsters did look cool in those, and I'd love to see the Inhumanoids reimagined in their style.

[The One and Only]

This may or may not be necroposting, but I'll take the risk anyway.

I would love to see a Primordia series produced by Polygon Animation. Say what you may about Transformers Prime, Robots in Disguise 2015, and even the Godzilla Monster Planet trilogy. At least the transformers and monsters did look cool in those, and I'd love to see the Inhumanoids reimagined in their style.

A spin-off series to TF:PRIME was in the works entitled UNIT:E (https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Unit:E) involving the human cast of the show. Agent Fowler. Jake. Miko. Raf. And Ratchet who stayed behind on Earth at show's end. It was intended as a backdoor pilot to other Hasbro properties like Stretch Armstrong, M.A.S.K., Candyland, and the renamed Inhumanoids, Primordia. Probably would've been animated in the style of the follow up to PRIME, Robots In Disguise. Although I thought the CGI used in Prime would've done an excellent job with Tonrar and the other residents of Primordia.

According to GODZILLA:Rulers of Earth artist Matt Frank. The premise for Primordia, was that the monsters featured, and probably some not featured in the UNIT:E made their presence known due to the threat Tonrar and the others thought humanity presented to the Earth over their abuse of the environment. And rise up to wipe us out.
Frank also stated that one of the main impediments to a long awaited revival of the Inhumanoids stemmed from legal issues. Partially because the parent company of the Inhumanoids, Hasbro, also at the moment the rights to create figures to Marvel Comics' characters. Most notably, the Inhumans.

Which probably Hasbro thought would cause too much confusion among the consumers. Also, apparently Hasbro no longer has the rights to names or characters to the Inhumanoid line. It came up during the controversial run of writer Aubrey Sitterson on G.I. JOE, where he planned to have Metlar and company make their long awaited return. Outlines were approved, but right in the middle of everything, Hasbro told the writer the Inhumanoids couldn't be used do the company no longer having rights to names. So that's why kaiju sized versions of the creatures from third G.I. Joe:ARAH mini series, "Pyramid of Darkness" , the Fatal Fluffies.