Mystery solved!

There are two Gormitis in my collection that have been driving me crazy.

Nick and Bullrock from the Cartoon series, 2 inch figures, BUT fully articulated with transparent limbs! I got both of them in big lots bought on Ebay (from Italian sellers if I am not wrong) but until now I have had no idea how these were originally sold.

I have been asking about them online for at couple of months. My first guess was that these two special editions came from a playset. They were definetely not bootlegs - they have the Giochi stamp under the foot, are exactly the same size as the normal Cartoon figures and are just too beautiful and rich in detail to be bootlegs. 

Size comparison with normal Cartoon series figure

Size comparison with normal Cartoon series figure

For months ... nothing, then the other day I got some help on reddit. Actually, a helpful person on reddit had to ask on Instagram and then the mystery was solved. 

Apparently, these two guys were sold as exclusives with a notebook! I managed to find an advertisement for these notebooks called Boom (not sure if that is the name of the company producing them or just the specific line of notebooks but a Giochi Preziosi logo is visible on the bottom of the display). The picture is low quality but the ad clearly states that the notebooks are sold with a Gormiti character in exclusive colors and furthermore we have pictures of Nick, Bullrock, Magmion, Bombos, Toby and Cavarex. These are shown in the normal Cartoon versions for some reason, not articulated with transparent limbs. But logic dictates that, in addition to the two figures I have, there must also exist articulated versions of Magmion, Bombos, Toby and Cavarex!

So, now there’s something 'new' to look for! I keep thinking my Gormiti collection is close to complete and then I discover something new. Let the hunt begin, boys and girls!

Series Review #1: Nature Unleashed (2012)

This is the first in a line of reviews in which I will look closer at the individual Gormiti series (2005-2012). The plan is to review all of the series, but to celebrate the non-chronological and ‘backwardsy’ way I tend to do things here on the blog, why not just start with the sixteenth and last one ...?

My first meeting with the series “Nature Unleashed” was in 2013 (which, as far as I know, was the Danish release year). I was in a toy store with my son, at this point a big kid who no longer collected small plastic figures (he was probably into soccer cards or something like that), and we stumbled upon this new Gormiti series we just had to check out.

Our initial reaction was shock to see that little telltale window in the ‘blind bag’. WHAT a way to spoil the fun! Later I learned that Giochi Preziosi had already done the same thing with the series Neorganic and Luxion but I still have no idea why they decided to remove that whole 'lottery element' which was such a big quality in the Gormiti toyline.

Maybe they thought people were getting tired of duplicates and that damaged the sale, who knows?

But the result, obviously, was that all the small sorry figures was left in the bin at the toy store.

Gormitis? You call THOSE Gormitis?

Basically, tiny plastic crap that looked like it was bought from a vending machine at the mall. My son and I agreed that these Gormitis sucked big time. Not at all like in the good old days (that would be around 2010) when we collected those big chunky Supreme Eclipse figures.  

Fast forward to 2018. I was now myself a Gormiti collector buying big job lots of second hand Gormitis. I would get a Nature Unleashed figure every once in a while but my focus was not at all on completing this series. Because, obviously, I was prejudiced against this crappy series (it sucked, remember?).    

But even though my focus was mainly on the earlier series, I little by little started to enjoy the utter weirdness that is Nature Unleashed. They don't in any way match the awe-inspiring homogeneity you see in, for example, series 2/Atomic – Nature Unleashed is bonkers, random madness! Some of the figures don’t at all look like Gormitis.   

"Blart" ... possibly the strangest Gormiti in existence?

So, obviously not a homogenous series but there is definitely appeal in this randomness, this insanity! You have some of the least Gormiti-looking Gormitis in this series (aside from maybe some of the Neorganic bosses that look like Ben 10 figures), some are absolutely absurd. It was actually this bubbly floating guy Blart (above) that made me obsess with Nature Unleashed.  

Other figures also display an amazing sense of humour. "Vomica" is a fish with arms and legs and it vomits on its enemies. Vomica would actually be great for army building. Imagine a whole army of these fish!

I considered making a leash for this guy so he can be out walking his 'fish dogs' or something.

Something I also discovered when my focus moved to this series was that some of the figures were actually quite large, not just the small rubble I had seen in that toy store years ago.  

Size comparison ... "Soldier" (l) and "Magor" (r). Unbelievably, from the same series.

Like the very first Gormiti series, only released in Italy, some of the figures are MASSIVE and some are ridiculously small. If this was deliberate – as to sort of ‘come full circle’ with this last series – or just coincidence, I don’t know.

Another great quality with Nature Unleashed is the great detail in the sculpt. Especially the forest tribe. If you look at, for example, "Burning" and "Sentinel" (below), these display some of the most detailed sculpts I have ever seen on such small figures. Just look at those microscopic veins in the wood, done with such precision without any deformation of facial features or excess PVC. Amazing!

"Burning"

"Soldier"

So the verdict? Well, Nature Unleashed is a strange series. Not homogenous at all. Some figures are cool and scary looking, others are downright ridiculous. Some – like the volcano tribe – are sloppily painted, others are absolutely beautiful in both sculpt and paint.

Bottom line is … absolute chaos! But a chaos I love! A highly unpredictable Gormiti series and in no way boring or ordinary.

Here’s a gallery of the complete series and an example of the character cards.  

Volcano Tribe

Forest Tribe

Earth Tribe

Air Tribe

Sea Tribe

Holographic cards!

L’isola di Gorm – the De Agostini collection!

In 2009 the Italian publisher De Agostini ventured into the land of Gormiti and released a massive collection separate from the normal Gormiti toyline.

It was composed of 64 (!) magazine releases (one out every two weeks at the newsstands) each containing one or more component, or minifigures, to build a complete L’Isola di Gorm (Island of Gorm). The minifigures were new sculpts of the characters from the Cartoon series, smaller but with a more naturalistic and detailed look, and they were accompanied by five beasts for the miniatures to ride.

The first magazine cost only 1,99 euro (you know, to lure you in) while the next 63 went at 5,99 euro each!

Furthermore, the minifigures and the smaller parts (smaller mountains, trees etc.) for the landscape were also sold in blind bags in the good old Gormiti tradition.

This is the sort of stuff you could expect to find in a blind bag.

What kind of deal Giochi Preziosi and De Agostini struck, I haven’t been able to find any info on, but it’s obvious that, at the time, Giochi was eager to ‘gormiti-fy’ the south of Europe as much as possible (as seen  with their frequent editione edicola, newsstand editions, in the normal Gormiti line). Toy stores simply weren’t enough!

L’isola di Gorm is very rarely sold on the secondhand market – probably because it took forever to complete – but I recently acquired 55 out of the 64 magazines, all but two of them sealed, and have assembled most of the island. If I’ll ever get the missing pieces, who knows!  

As you can see from the following picture it’s the Greek version I got.  

After having documented which issues the pieces came from (that information might come in handy someday) I started ripping the bags and assembled.

Just click and connect!

Or well ... use a hammer. The pieces don't always fit perfectly.

Some hours later ...

Even though I’m missing a few pieces, most notably the eagle’s head that should fit on top of the mountain, I think this looks quite stunning. There are so many incredible details here. I continue to amaze at how artistic and beautiful the Gormiti toys are. For such a mainstream global phenomenon, there is an amazing attention to detail.

Inside the Earth tribe's temple - some beautiful wall carvings.

There's a great marble-like effect painted onto the sides of the maelstrom.

An ancient broken relic on the beach!

So, L'isola di Gorm is pretty to look at but, in fact, it's also very ‘toyetic’ (to use a word created by a former Kenner exec). Many of the elements for the landscape have different battery powered features (lights, sound, movement) and, amazingly they all still work after 11 years storage!

Just press the button on the horror tree (below) and you will hear a bloodcurdling scream and a horrific little tune that could be taken right out of a Hammer horror movie! And the sound quality is actually really good.

The horror!

The maelstrom spins and spins and makes the sound of splashing water.

That’s just a few of the mechanical features and the ‘toyeticism’ (hey, I just developed the word even further!) doesn’t stop here. The four heroes in their Gormiti shape (Toby, Nick, Jessica, Lucas) are included in TWO versions, one mounted on a base and one without the base so they can ride a monster.  

Nick mounted on his beast.

Lucas on his ... ehh ...horse?

And there's even more toyeticism ... catapults! Time to wage war!

There’s and incredible TEN different catapults or canons. One for each tribe obviously wouldn’t be enough, they had to have TWO each. 

They have a very simple loading system with a tight rubberband but it works perfectly. Some of the canons will almost knock down a beer bottle. 

Here’s just a little gallery of all the mayhem that goes on at L’isola di Gorm.

Attaaaaaaack!!

Skulls!! This guy might look nice but he will pick your skin off with his beak.

Steelback getting ready for a fight.

The miniatures are quite small but have great detail. 

 

Size comparison: Delos Normal Cartoon figure (l) and De Agostini version (r).

A dark wash technique has been used to create depth and shadow. I don’t always like washes as they can look a bit 'cheap' and smudgy but for these miniatures I think it gives the perfect look. 

Cannon Trunk

DeepDownFear

Steelback

Well ... now I have expressed my great marvel and admiration for L'isola di Gorm but from a commercial perspective ... was this project really a good idea?

I seriously doubt it. 

From a commercial perspective it almost seems like suicide! L'isola di Gorm was waaay too expensive (380 euro to complete the set!) and it took forever to get all the parts. 64 magazines! What were they thinking?? It actually took two and a half years to complete the set. Kids would outgrow Gormiti before even getting close to completion.  

And many of the magazines included bits and pieces of the landscape that were useless had you not been there from the start. It's hard to imagine that kids pestered their parents to get these magazines at the newsstand. "Daddy, daddy, can I pleeeeease have that issue number 38 with half a hill in it?"

Kids must have been sleepless with excitement waiting for this next issue!

I might be repeating myself but, basically, If you weren’t in from the start – if you didn’t get that first magazine or at least first couple of magazines –  why bother? Who wants part of a landscape?

Could very well be why a complete L'isola di Gorm is so rarely sold on the secondhand market.

As for the contents of the ‘magazine’, it's not actually a magazine. It's more like a collection of pages or 'files' for a sort of Gormiti encyclopedia. You are supposed to rip them out and put them in a binder but the contents are hardly worth mentioning - like with most other Gormiti magazines it mostly seems like an excuse to sell toys at the newsstand.

But, oh my, what toys!