Lobotomaxx (1994)

As part of the final series of Real American Hero GI Joe, and the second Star Brigade, all semblance of reality is out the window with this figure. Avert your eyes, pure military Joe fans. What follows may be too upsetting to stomach.  If you’re a toy nut like me, however, bask in the green green glow of sheer insanity.

To say that Lobotomaxx is the wildest looking of the Lunartix aliens is not too much of a stretch. Sure, Predacon had multiple arms and alien dreds, and Carcass had funky attack ribs and a Next Generation Romulan Warbird-shaped head, but neither of them approach the awesome levels of ridiculousness encompassed by Lobotomaxx the Stellar Explorer. That’s what his subtitle states on his package, by the way, even though his specialty is listed as bounty hunter. Maybe he makes exploring a hobby during down times between bounties.

My neck is still sore from the abrupt left turn the GI Joe line took in the second series of Star Brigade. Suddenly, interstellar travel and alien empires were part of the story. The Joe team even got its own version of Han Solo. When I first saw the 1994 Star Brigade figures, I thought maybe I had slept through and missed a year or two of toys.

Let’s break down the freakiness quotient: He’s got a bendy neck and tail (take that, Golobulus), exposed brain (thanks to a laser-sword fight, according to the file card), two sets of eyes, and an extra set of calves. Incredible, absolutely incredible. This is one alien who’s so twisted and cheesy looking, he could easily have appeared in a cut scene from Don Dohler’s 1977 cheese-fest, The Alien Factor.

18 comments

  • I attempted to post a comment a minute ago but my PC had a bit of trouble

    On the subject of Starbrigade, i recently decided to release Rock&roll, Robojoe and B.A.A.T from their MOC prisons.

    I remeber the Lunatrix guys were really hard to find in my area. My little brother who was 4 at the time really wanted Predacon but we couldnt find him anywhere. I did find something with a simmilar name [Predaking] at a garage sale and he is proudly the centrepeice of my G1 shelf but thats a different kettle of fish altogether.

    In reguards to the Lunatrix guys. I dont think Hasbro was trying to “ruin” the line on purpose. I remember the Predator and Aliens films were really popular in the early 90’s so Hasbro was probably trying to reach out to kids via these guys.

    In regaurds to the other Star brigade guys, i like the “white” [not racism] varients of Payload, Roadblock, Spaceshot, Scifi and Ozone the most. I hope to have them on a Defient, repelling a horde of Blackstar troops…..one day

  • Dreadnok: Spirit

    I was never really a fan of Star Brigade, but as a sci-fi line, they’re not bad. At the time, I wasn’t all that interested in the Joes taking on space aliens.

  • Yeah, I’d always wanted to find the aliens, too but never could. If my collection were currently more oriented to the RAH yeas, I know they would be on the top of my list, but right now I’m just enjoying collecting the modern stuff too much to want to add more time running down figures that aren’t made anymore. At times finding figures currently in production is enough of a problem…;)

    I’ll admit that Lobotomaxx wasn’t my favorite of the three (I’d always wanted Predacon too), but I’m sure had I actually seen him in the store I would have been sure to pick him up. I’d never actually known about his unique leg construction until I started getting into the online community since I’d never seen one in person before. Hasbro did the four arms in the Mortal Kombat line, but they’ve never redone that idea…hey, Lobotomaxx for the possible 50th Annivesary line that’s suppose to encompass all of G.I. Joe that might be in the pipe soon?

  • This guy reminds me of Hammerhead from the vintage Star Wars line.

    Ironic that the Joes folded in ’94 and SW was revived the following year. With the current trend towards “mashing up” brands, I’m surprised that Hasbro hasn’t paired up G.I. Joe and Star Wars the way they’re doing with newer franchises such as the Angry Birds.

  • @Clutch
    The dust bowl of a town i used to live in was always a few months behind when getting toys. The shops stopped carrying GIJOES in January 1996 when the stock ran out. The only figure still on shelves was Crystal ball [who sat on the toystore discount shelf until 1998]. I pretty much moved onto the POTF2 stuff as soon as i saw it [December 1995].

    I filled the void of not having Joes by hording star wars stuff. I pretty much stopped collecting star wars in 2009 when i started to rebuild by Joe collection. I’m not one of those “angry” star wars fans [though i did smash Force unleash through stress] but when it comes to star wars stuff there is just too much of it. If i ever find the Lunatrix guys, i’ll stick them in my Mos Eisly cantina diorama

  • @Skymate
    Space Shot and Ozone didn’t have white variants (not meaning to sound corrective).

    On the subject of the Lunartix Aliens’ weapons, I would just equip them with the most sci-fi of the accessories: with the case of Lobotomax, give him the Dee-Jay rifle, Iron Grenadier pistol, and Hydro-Viper knife. In Predacon’s case, two of the Blaster guns and two of the black Eco-Warriors Flint rifles. With Carcass, stick with the green Mercer gun he comes with.

  • @Acer
    Thanks. I meant to say i liked the “realistic” versions of them. The ones that look like actual Astronaughts.
    And on the subject of weapons. Lobotomax here comes with the same weapons that B.A.A.T came with

    @KansasBrawler
    I hope GI JOE gets a 50th line in the same way Transformers is getting a 30th anniversery. I personally would like to see all sorts of things in it. Even the Lunatrix guys in some way

  • @Rob – is that the Lanard shuttle tower in the background?

    • Yes it is the Lanard shuttle tower. Picked it up at the annual sale a couple years back. Can’t wait to see what shows up at this year’s sale.

  • Dekkard- I saw it as well and I’m pretty sure it’s the Lanard shuttle platform.

    So I am like Rob in terms of embracing the wackiness of Star Brigade. Around 1995 is when Star Wars toys in the 3 3/4 size were suddenly coming back. Having the joes go into space with aliens was a way of connecting these 2 toy lines.

    I have always wanted to combine those 2 toy lines and the Lunartix aliens were a great bridge. As it happened, I was in Ecuador during that year and picked up a set of all of the aliens as well as several SB Joes. It was certainly a left turn, as Rob said, but I love the wildness of lobotomaxx and Predacon (who sounds like a decepticon) and Carcass (the orange crab guy). I still feel like these figures are more viable than the manimals, which had reduced articulation.

  • @Jmort
    Here is an example of my Transformers nerdiness
    The Predicons were a group of five Decepticons who turned into animals [robotic, chunky animals] and could combine into Predaking [who is one of the largest Transformer gestalts ever]

    The Decepticon surviors of the great war upgraded to Predacons and fought the Autobots decendants, the Maximals

    An example of the two toylines merging [Star wars and GI JOE that is] can be seen in the weapons that came with some of the POTF2 figures. Some of them had slight retools of battle corps weapons. Check out the “Assault rifle” the Stormtrooper came with and Lobots comm link

  • I think it was after the JAD entry for Carcass that I started hunting for one. As expected, my kid loved it. Not feeling the same urge with Lobotomaxx here. It’s like he’s overdone. Crazy neck alone would’ve done it; the extra limbs are too much. But, in the realm of all that’s zany, he’s a great figure and would fit in a sci-fi diorama well.

  • OH MY GOD…. his tail holds a gun! EPIC.

    I haven’t opened mine yet for 3DJoes. Now I’m really looking forward to it. I only have one question on this guy: Why is his head upside down?

  • @ Carson
    Agreed. The tail holding a gun is awesome, perhaps one of the coolest features from the classic GI Joe line, even if the figure is near the bottom in terms of people’s favorites.

    I wonder if Hasbro was off on the space motif timing. Space shuttles, astronauts, people actually being interested in, feeling good about the space program was back in the ’80s. The Defiant & Crusader shuttles captured that well (Fun Fact: During most of the time the Defiant was on shelves, all space shuttle flights were grounded. That was during the downtime from the Challenger disaster). There were loads of space shuttle flights in the 1990s but people seemed to lose interest after the last Voyager probe flew by Neptune. I remember being rather alone in my interest of space and the planets in the ’90s, following news of the various probes. So, a deluge of Star Brigade figures just didn’t have the effect it would of had at a different time (at least in concept. The line had too many repaints and recycling of parts).

    As for the the Lunartix aliens, one the one hand, they are interesting figures in term of the design. Each figure has some interesting features. On the other hand, they are so far afield from G.I. Joe, they make Cobra-La look reasonable by comparison, but the line was drifting (Mega Monsters) so figures like this wouldn’t come off as a surprise.

    I agree with the earlier comments that it might’ve been a sort of trial run for that Star Wars run later.

    The best way to sum up public sentiments about space program & space exploration was-
    1980s- “Space? Awesome!”
    1990s- “Space? Meh”

  • Bleah!
    But Space-shot is a great figure with an amazing (Mister Freddie Mercury) facesculpt!

    😉

  • @LittleBoa
    “Another boring space launch! Change the channel” [Bart Simpson]
    “I cant the batteries have fallen out” [Homer Simpson]

    I thought people liked Voyager in the 90’s. Everyone made a big deal about it. Oh wait. That was the thing with sexy borg chick

    And on the subject of Spaceshot. I hope to have him some day. Do you think his Freddie Mercury moustache was inspired by Flash [the sci fi movie Mercury did a video for]

  • Would love to get to one of those Lanard sales. Might be able to clsoe a few annoying little holes in my Corps! collection…

  • Um, maybe I’m just a little late to the party, but is Lobotomaxx not wearing pants? It looks like he’s wearing a shirt, a belt, and thigh pouches but no pants. The card art on YoJoe shows much of his lower waist area covered by his legs…but I’m really concerned that Lobotomaxx might not be wearing pants. This is a family toy line guys, let’s give everyone pants…even though I’m honestly not sure how pants would work on a guy with four lower legs.

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