In terms of raw value, the Green Galaxy Laser Team Star Patrol Jumbo Figure Set is not the cheap thrill of the smaller figures. The people behind Tim Mee recently relocated the tooling for the larger figures, hauled them somewhere to crank out some new figures, and made them - the larger figures were previously seen in Mexico and it seems the facts of their vintage-era 1970s and/or 1980s releases are a little murky. The reissue is here now, though, and they're slightly different than the currently available smaller ones thanks to changes made to the tooling over the years.
While most of this kind of figure is smaller, usually around 60mm scale, these are the size of action figures. The non-poseable figures measre 2 3/4-inches to 5-inches tall, giving you something that's a lot bigger for painting or display. However, you don't get the massive quantity of figures to trade or give away after you keep your own set. The per-figure price is $2.63 each, which is still quite a deal but not as ridiculously good as the 26-cent miniature versions. I guess the question to if they're 10 times as cool as the mini ones is up to you - if you're older, I'm sure you'll appreciate being able to see details without squinting. Even if you're not old, the changes to the space turtle lobster alien's alternate shell sculpt and the altered robot alone may be worth getting just for the curiosity of it - if you didn't know, the mini sculpts changed over the years. The jumbo ones are based on the earliest mini release, hence some changes.
First up is a faux Chewbacca, which looks a lot like Zeb from Star Wars Rebels. The 4 9/10-inch figure is mighty and massive, giving you a clean look at his capri pants (with pockets!), entenna, bald spot, and nifty ray gun which just happens to be based on an old ray gun Tim Mee sold at full size for kids. The sculpting seems to be pretty much the same as the smaller ones, minus the size difference.
Detail isn't quite as crisp as the little one, but it's still plenty good. The teeth are a little soft, for example, but the overall look and feel of the figure is consistent at this larger size and seeing the high premium paid for jumbo versions of other figures lately, especially given some of the concessions made to get them at the larger scale, I don't think there's much cause to complain. This figure makes a great desk statue.
The 2 3/4-inch robot seems to have the most changes. The front is very similar, but the body on my sample is a little wavy - it could be a defect, I'm not certain. An antenna on the left side of his head is absent on the smaller figure, giving this one a distinctly different personality. The feet seem a little different as well, now wider than before. Ultimately, it still looks like a cubist remix of R2-D2.
The flip side is very different - the modern reissues have a hollowed-out back with a totally different sculpt, a simple grid without much detail. A different grid on the big figure is flush with the rest of the body, plus there's a small mail s lot near its posterior. It really does look better, but there's a lot more wasted plastic here since odds are you'll never look at it from behind. If painted, this figure would be right at home with your vintage-era Star Wars figures - it's about the same size as many modern Astromech droid action figures, so with a little paint it'd be right at home in the right diorama.
The Astronaut is a curious choice - his companion spaceman and space secretary weren't included in the upsized set - and he feels like part of an incomplete pairing. His open right hand is sculpted to grip something, but what? No flag, no landing strut, and no other figure seems posed to work with him so it's just sort of weird, doubly so at the larger 4-inch size. One foot is off the ground, and the other is firmly planted on what I have to assume was the moon. His right hand is holding some sort of box - a tricorder, an old cassette player, who knows. The important thing is that the box is there, and his space suit is nice and wrinkled. They did a nice job here, but as with the others the human head is a little soft on detail. As far as I can tell, it's just upsized (or the 2-up) from the original smaller figure.
An enlarged quasi Han Solo/Buck Rogers is also just an upsized version of the original, with a thicker antenna on his helmet - which I found out is also an old roleplay toy sold under the name Lunar Patrol Helmet. Standing a hair under 5-inches tall, his pose seems right at home for any space combat scene and the mold's seam doesn't get in the way of his face - even though it runs down the middle. Seeing how badly a split face like this can turn out in other army men figures, it's really spectacular to see it hold up once enlarged to this scale. Like the fake Chewbacca, this space warrior has a blaster pistol based on an old Tim Mee ray gun toy that (so far) hasn't found its way back into production.
Detail is similarly good, giving us a better glimpse at the pattern on the belt that you really don't see at the smaller size. I bet this would look incredible if the Kaiju crowd hit it with Monster Kolor paint.
More big changes (and big detail) can be seem on the galactic lobster turtle. The big thing here - another holdover from an earlier version of the mini mold - is the shell. Here, it's a solid, convex feature with a different pattern sculpted on his chest. Recent smaller releases are concave, spoon-like structures giving the figure a much thinner - almost ridiculously thinner - build. I can only assume it, like the robot, were changed to cut down on the cost of raw materials or to speed up the production process. This thicker version looks really great, and is a good reason to buy the set. It's just so gosh darned weird.
Other than that, it's pretty much the same - accordion-joint elbows, big claws, and a nifty pock-marked leg pattern bring him to life, along with a head that looks like a stone statue of some sort. While the other figures feel a little more believable at the larger size, this one only gets more and more ridiculous. As he should be. The figure's backside has some great detailing including a spine and armor plating that looks something like miniblinds, again no big change from the original figure here.
Rounding out the set is your evil space tough. This one seems to have elements of Marvel's Skree or Thanos, Darth Vader, and any of a number of space comic or serial villains from over the years. The bigger head really does a nice job highlighting the detail in the face and arms, showing you those hollow eye sockets and a tiny bit of muscle definition here and there. The cape flows nicely, and the thigh-high boots are certainly a unique fashion choice. Detail in spots looks softer than others, specifically the belt buckle.
His helmet stands about 5-inches tall with the tip of the sword at 5 1/2-inches high, with a hilt that's interesting but not exactly remarkable. I assume this wasn't a full-size prop toy, but who the heck knows. Like with the space adventurer hero, this guy would probably do well to be fully painted by a creative person out there - so I hope someone takes the challenge and gives the world some really fancy repaints of this set. They deserve it!
These kinds of toys change drastically at larger sizes, mostly because they go from a disposable pocket toy you could lose and perhaps not cry over, to something you will want to curate and make sure never gets lost. The bag only includes 1 each of 6 figures, so the piece count isn't quite as impressive as the smaller ones, but they're certainly going to make more of a statement on a shelf or a desk. Go ahead and get yourself a set of these - or the little ones, if you want more of them. I'm pretty happy with them and I hope someone makes articulated versions some day!
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