Grips the Hand (Mighty Max) Review

Features

Write a Review

To write your own review, first locate the item in the Checklists. Then find the

Write a Review link for that item.

Grips the Hand (Mighty Max) Review

Grips the Hand
Mighty Max (Blue Bird)Monsters, ghouls, freaks and aliens have always been a big part of my life; and always will be. That's one of the reasons Mighty Max struck all the right chords with me.
Born in 1985; by the time I was old enough to go into a store and exclaim "I want that!" so many of the classics were gone from the shelves. Kenner's Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, ThunderCats and so on had all faded from sight. Luckily, cool properties like The Real Ghostbusters, Skeleton Warriors, Kenner's Aliens and Predator stuff, Tales from the Crypt Keeper and things like Jurassic Park and Street Sharks filled my childhood. And, of course, there was Mighty Max.
I was seven years old when Mighty Max hit the store shelves in the U.S., and it was in immediate hit with me right away. Thanks to toys like Monster in My Pocket and the Trash Bag Bunch; small, non-poseable figures didn't bother me at all. Honestly, I cannot think of a more beloved toyline from my childhood than Mighty Max. Aside from my Creepy Crawlers oven and stuff; I guess I invested the most playtime in good ol' Max and company.
I recall opening up all the playsets on my desk; arranging them in a particular style, and forcing poor Max to warp from one nightmare to the next; unable to leave until he achieved some particular goal; kind of like Quantum Leap in a blender with Kolchak the Night Stalker.
Mighty Max was so dear to me that, all these years later, I can still tell you the very first Mighty Max toy I ever owned (it was the small Horror Head; "Mighty Max Challenges the Lava Beast") as well as the last Mighty Max toy I ever owned; which was the Doom Zone, "Mighty Max Grips the Hand".
All these years later (I'm thirty-four now), I find myself in the beginning of a Mighty Max revival; reclaiming a much beloved portion of my childhood a little at a time. I've currently purchased seven loose, complete Doom Zones; the first two being Grips the Hand and Sinks Nautilus; I find it only fitting that my first Mighty Max review as an adult be of the last Mighty Max toy I had as a child.
First of all, let's discuss the theme. Zombies, graveyards, etc. are a no-brainer for things like Mighty Max; but it was also woefully underplayed. Aside from the Hand Doom Zone; the only other zombie-themed set I can think of is the small Horror Head "Mighty Max Survives Corpus". I really wish there had been more zombie stuff in Mighty Max; but that could be because I love zombies so much. My first memory of watching anything as a child was George Romero's original 1968 Night of the Living Dead. And I remember Tom Savini's 1990 remake of the same movie scared the daylights out of me.
As for the exterior of the Doom Zone; it's a rotting, nasty zombie hand! Cool! Complete with wounds, worms and other gore; it was a different and refreshing playset; considering so many of the others were a bit repetitive in design; either being the head/face of some monster or a creepy-crawly in most cases.
The interior is where the fun really begins. A creepy, old cemetery where the dead are rising from their graves. One of the mini-figures, a shambling zombie, can even be hidden beneath a plastic mound of dirt with his hands sticking out, enabling you to slowly pull him from his grave if you wish. Other fun features include a tomb with a roof you can open; which also makes for a dandy place to stash your little Mighty Max figurine when your playset is all closed up. Not to be outdone is the zombie sitting up its open coffin! With a swivel waist; you can turn the macabre creature to grope for Max in any direction you like! Also a finger opens up into a savage mouth which also serves as a slide and/or trap for Max. Between stickers and sculpting; there are many fun little details to see, too. Skulls and skeletons, tombstones, tree roots and more. Such fun.
The colors of the interior of the playset are nice and go well together; greens, reds, grey and some sickly yellow, among others. It's nice and colorful, yet not bright and garish.
As for the mini-figures, you receive three in this playset: The Mighty One, naturally, a shambling zombie and the big villain of the set; a wicked tree spirit named Lignin.
Lignin looks very cool, but I found his origin a little boring, too. Not that I paid much mind whatsoever to the comics on the backs of the blister cards; mind you. For me, the villain wasn't a tree spirit named Lignin. He was a mis-shapen golem of bones that I called, for lack of a more imaginative name, Bloody Bones. That was a tremendous chunk of Mighty Max's appeal, you see. Once you opened those tiny playsets; your imagination went into the director's chair and you could formulate your own adventures, plots and names and go in any direction you wanted.
The shambling zombie mini-figure looks pretty good with a rotted sculpt. He could have done well with a darker color or paint wash; as he has some good details easily missed.
All in all this is a fantastic playset. I loved it as a kid; I love it now as an adult. Having it in hand again after twenty-five years; I can't describe the sentimental nostalgia that struck me. Chances are, I don't have to describe it; most of you likely already know what I'm talking about; be it a beloved childhood toy of your own or something else entirely.
Thank you for reading.