Herc Armstrong

Include the Inhumanoids on the list of promising yet inadequately marketed eighties toy properties. Inhumanoids was well positioned, with Hasbro production a cartoon tie-in. Alas, the cartoon consisted of an anemic skein of seven-minute clips on Sunday morning animation graveyard Super Sunday. The story was compelling enough: A team of heroic scientist adventurers battles a series of re-animated ancient subterranean monsters with the aid of other ancient subterranean monsters. Sounds good, right? Apparently not to children or parents, circa 1986. The toys were neat, though.

Herc Armstrong is one of those heroic scientist adventurers. All of the human characters wear these strange, oddly proportioned protective suits. Herc’s suit has a real nautical Steampunk flavor, with it’s rivet, gasket, and hose details. I like the big boxy helmet (with light-pipe).

A heavy, dense, rubbery plastic is used for construction. The molded details and paint apps are above average for the time.

The helmet is removable, revealing a tiny head, similar to those Masked Rider Henshin figures. The helmet looks great, but the head needs to be small to keep the right proportion.

These figures were on the largish size for the eighties. Not as massive as Bravestarr, but significantly larger than your typical Kenner and Hasbro action figures.

Articulation is laughable. The legs can pivot from the waist, but they aren’t particularly useful for anything other than sitting. Look at him sit!

His arm-mounted grappling hook is a cool accessory. You turn that crank on the side to wrap the cord around a tube inside. These pieces are all delicate though and many specimens have broken or missing parts.

Herc and his crew are definitely worth checking out if you like powered armor or strange eighties obscurities.