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!