For the Star Brigade line of figures, I had thought that the extraterrestrials the Joe's space team had to fight were the Lunartix aliens, but then came the Manimals?

Just what the heck are he difference between those two subteams?

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I believe that the Manimals were meant to be part of the Lunatrix Empire, working under the 3 main baddies (I also believe some kind of larger, "Supreme Ruler Of The Lunatrix Empire" figure was planned at one point.)

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You mean this one?
http://www.yojoe.com/archive/unproduced/lunartix.shtml

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I believe the Manimals were bounty hunters working for the Lunartix.

Man, the Lunartix are the least fleshed out part of Joe history. I bet almost no one you'd ask about Joes would know they even made the alien figures.

That might just be it!

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Its better this way, that was a really low point in joedom.

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Maaaaannnn, every time I see that picture, I want to cry. I really would've loved to have had that alien. Love the weird arms, and he had a good color scheme that was certainly distinct from the other three.

Whether he was any sort of "Supreme Lunartix Ruler", I really don't know.

The Lunartix concept was a weird one, but I didn't object to it like a lot of fans. I'd've liked to have seen it go a bit further.

As to the Lunartix and the Manimals, I've always sort of seen it like this: The three Lunartix aliens that we know of are more or less an advance force. They're the ones sent in to determine if a planet is worth trying to conquer. They'll explore and do some intimidation and probably plundering. If they like what they see, then the Manimals get sent in to really soften up the place.

Hasbro had some pretty considerable plans for the Lunartix concept. There was this fourth alien. There were also six more Manimals in the works, that made the first batch look cute by comparison. Armor-Tech was also going to return, and there was yet another alien planned, as well as several Joes, one of which would've been sold with a videocassette that would've explained the origin of the Lunartix.

Precisely how any of this would've been packaged, i.e. multi-packs or whatever, I'm not certain.

The ONLY concept they were working on within the Lunartix framework that I had a problem with was a line called "Replicators", which would've been G.I.Joe and Cobra characters with these alien something or others in them that popped out of their chests. That struck me as really lame.

If by "lame" you mean "totally awesome" then I agree whole heartedly. Going by chart of Awesoments, GI Joe chest buster aliens would have gone somewhere below ninjas and above rocket cars.

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QFT

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I actually liked the Lunartix, and thought it was far less weird than shooting large rockets from one's helmet.

That unproduced one had some great potential. But in truth, we got screwed on our North American run because the Mexican Lunartix are far, FAR, better in color scheme. Yes, even the fuschia Predacon.

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I have those guys, too. The only thing I really disliked about them was the silver overspray on their backs. That seemed pointless.

Lobotomaxx was not especially different, slightly darker green, big deal. Carcass was a DEFINITE improvement in black, and while I tend to prefer the blue Predacon, I will say one thing about the red Predacon -- he looks a good bit better if you paint his eyes black.

ok remember seeing

in the Lee's guide and thought I'd post it here since the reference to the figs are in the pic on that page.

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Oh man those look pretty sweeeeet.

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Yep, those are the second series of Manimals (among others). Told you they made the first ones look cute...

Thanks, RT. Those Replicators are an awesome concept that I wish we would have got.

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