Drastic Plastic’s “Hard Corps”

I’m at Matt Doughty’s house today (Onell Design) and while we sit around chatting and staring at toy’s I’m also taking a little time to show you guys something completely insane from the nineties: Hard Corps, an independent toy run by a company named Drastic Plastic.

There’s very little info online about this series; this article at Toyfinity covers the story and it sounds like a nightmare experience for both the creator and the collectors involved in the line during the 1990s. Basically, it sounds to me as if someone jumped into a commitment without really understanding the market or process of manufacturing action figures . . . and the story’s end is a very limited run of unusual action figures that are ready to snap whether you touch them or not.

Matt’s box came directly from Doctor Kent (blog) and while chatting with John this morning I could tell that he really remembers the launch of the line and the mess surrounding it. The Toyfinity article has some info, but don’t miss this thread at actionfiguresca for even more pics and info.

Most of the toys in the box set are still sealed — see the Flickr set for pics of the box — but two of them came open on their own and Matt opened a third. The aliens are ugly but pretty cool while the humans are simply ugly. And all of the toys feel cheap and ready to snap; I have no idea what kind of plastic these are made of but they are not durable at all.

I cannot recommend that anyone try to find these action figures, but if you own a set then all I can say is “Wow.” These are obscure, ugly, and truly impressive just because of the story and the time they were produced. What is sad is that I’ve gotta say I wish someone would take these alien designs and create some good figures; the designs are a bit cool but the production of the toys is pure junk.

I love the weird things hiding around Glyos HQ, and it sounds like I really need to make a trip to Doctor Kent’s one of these days for a look at his collection.