Millions
of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere
The Mysterious Aliens!
Exogini are what MUSCLE-Heads refer to as the
Italian cousin's to M.U.S.C.L.E. They hit the scene about the
same time as M.U.S.C.L.E.'s, but there are several differences in the
toy lines mostly having to do with color variations and how many
figures were produced. For instance, there were 236 available
figures in the M.U.S.C.L.E. toy line, while there were only 40 figures
available in the Exogini set. There was a third series of Exogini
released as recent as 1997/98, but the figures aren't even
reminiscent of the originals, and many Exogini enthusiasts don't
even acknowledge them as being worthy of collecting.
I first learned of Exogini back around 1998. A fellow named
Albertino from Italy contacted me and said how much he liked The
M.P.S., and asked if I had ever heard of Exogini. He explained
that they were all the rage in Europe back in the late eighties.
We corresponded quite a bit as both of our web pages were just
getting off the ground, and we fed off of each other's enthusiasm as
our respective sites continued to grow. Albertino even sent me
some Exogini figures in the mail so I could get a better sense of
what they were all about. You can see them below..
Click to enlarge
The funny thing about
Exogini is that upon closer inspection, the figures seem
to have been "borrowed" from MATTEL without permission.
There are no Y/S.N.T. trademarks anywhere on the
sculpts, and the figures are smaller and less detailed
that M.U.S.C.L.E. or Kinnikuman figures, which is
usually a sure sign of a
bootleg. I do
get a kick out of the colors though, especially the
translucent ones.
If Exogini were bootlegs, the pilferer's
sure were pretty bold with marketing.
Check out this
Italian "M.U.S.C.L.E.-like" commercial!
It looks like it was dubbed and the M.U.S.C.L.E. logo replaced!
I just checked the other day, and Albetino's Exogini page is still
up at
www.exogini.com. If you want to learn more about Exogini, Albertino's is
the place to go!
