When I was like 7, I was in some office waiting room with my dad. There was a bucket of toys to play with, and I was instantly intrigued by this robed figure with a hologram inside. They let me keep it, and for 25 years, I’ve had no clue what it was. This is the second video in like a month that’s answered one of my mysteries. Love your stuff.
Yeah, that is absolutely how I always encountered these. There was always one in a bucket with other figures or something. I remember thinking it was a he-man figure until I saw that there was more than one.
Hologram pictures, the Magie Eye paintings of the 80s :D I did collect a couple of supernaturals toys, not because of the figures, but because I wanted the holograms, and those "artsy" shops wanted hundreds for a framed picture of one.
There were these, used here and Visionaries. Then those foil stickers we loved that came with GoBots for a while. You could also use them to blind entire populations on a sunny day.
This is the episode I've been waiting for. I loved these as a kid. My grandma would surprise me with a new one every couple months. So much nostalgia. Thanks for this one.
If these things weren't successful, I'd blame that commercial. Those kids hiss whispering "sssssupernaturalsssss" made my skin crawl and my stomach reject all nutrients I've had all day.
Holy crap, ‘The Doll’ is a real comic? I thought I’d dreamed it. I saw it in the Eighties but not in Supernaturals - I read it in a copy of the MASK comic - complete with that “what happens next?” ending! Who the hell made this thing and got it into these comics.
Yep, yep - pretty sure that's where I read it too. I couldn't remember which comic it was in, it wasn't my usual transformers or gi-joe. It was definitely a "shut up whilst I do this adult task purchase"
Don't you realize "The Doll" is a rip off of the Goosebumps story, Night Of The Living Dummy, The Doll is the literary Slappy The Dummy from Goosebumps, so Tonka's Super Naturals is a rip off of R.L. Stine's Goosebumps.
@@Frosty7575 but whoever wrote it, wanted it to be a Children's anthology horror series, and the evil ventriloquist dummy is a hell of a lot like Slappy, and I'm pretty sure the dude who wrote that story is R.L. Stine, and when his story for Tonka's Supernaturals got rejected and Tonka was acquired by Hasbro in the 90s, he reworked it for Goosebumps, into Night Of The Living Dummy, and the Supernaturals themselves were prototype versions of the Goosebumps monsters, like Curly The Skeleton, Prince Khoru The Mummy, The Mud Monster from "You Can't Scare Me", Amaz-O The Magician, The Lord High Executioner of Terror Tower, etc., and Supernaturals does give me a Goosebumps vibe, in fact if "The Doll" came out almost half a decade before the first Goosebumps books were written, Goosebumps is actually a rip off of Tonka's Supernaturals, so Tonka's Supernaturals were the original Children's anthology horror series, not Goosebumps, however, I'm pretty sure though Tonka's Supernaturals and Goosebumps are connected, the same way Transformers and Gobots are connected, you know.
I always liked these particularly the Ghostlings. But I think they made a mistake in not having normal faces attached to the chestplates, so the figures wouldn’t look weird from any angle other than straight on.
I totally had some of these when I was a kid. I never knew any of their backstory. While I knew the name of the line, they were always just like "those hologram guys" to me.
This is just what I needed today Dan, thanks! My young imagination exploded with amazement when I got my first Supernatural. It was Snakebite and he formed a fierce triumvirate with King Hiss and Serpentor.
Such a well written and in depth analysis of a short lived concept that has for decades only been a vague half memory for so many of us. This is why we love your channel!
Cripes, what a shame. I dug these toys as a kid and I still like the holograms. I'd love for them to get retconned in with the Visionaries in Hasbro's next reboot.
This was a fun watch. As much as I loved Marvel & DC Comics, I did enjoy our British stuff and would regularly pick up IPC/Fleetway stuff, as well as DC Thomson and Marvel UK. Supernaturals was beautifully drawn. The stories were a bit flat, but the artwork was great. The Doll however was really good. I always got the impression that it was a left over strip from Scream, IPC/Fleetway's brief horror comic from about 1984/1985. It was still a relatively common practice then for UK comic artists and writers to not have credit on their published work. There were also many artists were hired from Spain and Brazil by IPC/Fleetway at the time. I can't believe nobody has figured out who the artist is for The Doll, but even some of the identified creators don't seem to remember working on Supernaturals either. I know I've seen the style before. Thanks for the dive into this obscure toyline and its even more obscure UK comicbook. I hope you do more on UK comics. There's a strange, yet interesting history there 🙂
This line is legit one of the reasons I subscribed to your channel, hoping you had a video on it. They've been in my head as one of the most memorable/cool toys from when i was a kid even though I never owned one. Watching now, I still think they're cool as hell and I'm glad you finally tackled them.
I loved Supernaturals. There was a 1-800 number you could call to get a recording of each of the characters, and my friends and I called it up many times and recorded them to tape. I remember it being free, but maybe it was only free to me because I didn't pay the phone bill.
I have Snake Bite - he was and still is really cool. The holograms still look really great. These guys and Inhumanoids should have a crossover - both obscure but really cool.
loved supernaturals had all the figures. will even be giving this video a thumbs up as you barely insulted the line or people involved so that made a nice change
I’m so glad you did this one! The Doll has always been stuck in my head in a vague frightening memory and I couldn’t remember where it was from. I thought maybe Madballs comic. Thank you for ending that mystery!
My favourite part of watching these videos about old action figures is seeing a toy that I actually had in my collection back in the day but completely forgot about - in this case, the Skull guy!
Okay, two things. One: old school holograms rule and it sucks that enamel pins took off instead. Two: I totally ripped off the Ghostlings for the villain of my childhood comic.
@@thetallmaninyourecloset5276 Yeah, I guess that isn't a logical leap! I'm thinking in terms of cool collectibles that people could get made the way they do stickers or patches or pins. Basically, I immediately searched for printers who could offer holograms and nope. Not one.
Lol! I remember the commercials back in the day. I also remember that some of those writers & artists who worked on the Supernaturals comic (which I owned) also worked on a U.K. horror comic 'Scream'. It was a fantastic comic with stories like 'The Dracula File,' 'Monster' and the fantastic '13th Floor'. Ah, way back in '84/85. Those were the days. :)
Loved Scream. Great comic and had some genuinely great stories. Considering how IPC/ Fleetway operated at the time, I wonder if The Doll was a leftover Scream title and they had to publish it somewhere.
Great episode sir! I remember having a few of the super naturals and told my wife about it. Her comment was “you had a lot of toys growing up huh”? This was my escape and the holograms were amazing for the time period back then.
Found some ghostlings in an old box of toys my mom saved from when I was a kid and had no idea what they were. I figured they must be visionaries after watching your video on that toy line. Thanks for solving the mystery!! I love your channel!
The very first time I visited America, the Super Naturals toyline had just come out, and I was in love with the toy commercials. I never did get the toys themselves, but I never forgot about them, and I learned all about the rest of the toys and the comics later on come the internet age.
Oh man!!!! I’d forgotten all about these. I had one. I remember them being one of the most mind blowing things ever to my kid brain when they came out.
Oh my word, you just tapped into a part of my brain I haven't accessed in thirty years. I had several of these toys, and I loved them! The holograms really freaked me out.
Ooh, the comic. I remember getting the preview with an issue of 2000AD. Didn't last for long! I think Ian Kennedy's artwork was just the covers. Main thing I remember him for is Dan Dare, when Eagle got revived. Still drawing, after all these years. I think The Doll might have been intended for the horror comic Scream!, or possibly Eagle when it was merged with Scream!, although that may have been phased out around then.
You have hit me right in the memories with these. I started watching this not recognising or remembering Supernaturals at all..... until I saw them and had a huge ‘oh yeah’ moment 😄
I had a whole bunch of these as a kid, including the Tomb, and added a few more as an adult. I liked them a lot back then, and still do. They were wonderfully weird and monstrous. My kids really enjoy playing with them as well!
Memory unlocked! I have been trying to remember the name of these toys forever. Now it's time to hit eBay, and get some of that sweet childhood nostalgia.
These were really impressive in person the only problem was it required just the right angles and right lighting. But if you got it, the effect was amazing. Better than most of the other holograms I saw. Only surpassed when that 3D hologram arcade game Time Traveler came out.
Played that. Wow, that was a waste of money. But actually, the memory of playing it is actually worth the 10 bucks I probably spent on it, before the charm wore off.
I was thinking of one of these toys I had as a small child a couple weeks ago and the name of what it was became lost to me over time. Thanks for covering this and bringing back the memories.
I was seven then and when I'd go watch cartoons at my buddy's house. He had sisters and they loved that cartoon. We hated it and made fun of it and them for liking it.
The doll!!! I remember reading it as a kid and honestly thought I'd imagined it, because I couldn't remember where I'd seen it and there's scant information online!! I guess it made more of an impression than the main comic.
I had one of these guys, the skeleton one. He was pretty cool looking I guess, but the figures were chunky. That Tomb of doom looks cool though, plus props for getting Vincent Price in the commercial!
I bought all 9 issues of the comic when I was a kid, it was great. I remember The Doll to this day so it was a surprise to see this pop up after so long!
I had one of these as a kid, but could barely remember anything about them. Given that holograms are made by bouncing laser light off a 3D object, I'd love to see the original models they used to create the images for these.
I freaking love the supernatural toy figures it brings me back to my childhood I have a couple of those fingers still around today just not in great condition.
It's nice of Dan to do these videos so I can identify the random toys I had kicking around my room that I got at flea markets and yard sales with no real way to identify what they actually are. Apparently it's a "ghostling".
I grew up super poor so I didn't have many toys, but I had a couple of these! Thanks for bringing back those memories of toys I cherished so much! Great episode. Now off to ebay I go!
I had a few of those as a kid 😄 the weird large Skeleton guy and one of the robed dudes. My friends in Kindergarten thought they were the coolest toys ever cus of those hologram stickers 🤣😂. Glad to see some love shown
One of my favorite lines...I have the whole series. They are a lot of fun to photograph, although capturing that holographic magic is a little tricky. Nice review!
Thanks for all the great content. You always bring me back to childhood every time even when I think you can’t bring me back for another trip. Always bringing a smile to my face
Remember seeing the commercials for these and the toys in Consumer catalogs. I bet my son would love these because he's really into Halloween and spooky stuff.
I never had the time or energy to distinguish these from “Visionaries”. Kind of like I how I still can’t tell the difference between Gil Gerard or Robert Urich.
Your guys' toy histories are close to the best on the internet. That's saying something due to the high-quality competition out there! Love every episode, even if I don't care about the line! Thanks!
I'd never heard of or seen these, and being a fan of Visionaries, I can see why. I love your videos Dan, half the time it's nostalgia, and the other half is like learning a coin has two sides and I've been missing out!
I don’t care what anyone else thinks, those are pretty cool figures. I would’ve loved them had I known about them. Only had one Visionaries figure, and I thought it was awesome. Holograms are still rad.
At first I was like “Supernaturals? I don’t remember those.” Then I saw the figures and I had to laugh. I remember them. My best friend at the time had a few. They were no MOTU or TMNT, that’s for sure. Thanks for this. Also thanks for the link to the article, I’m going to have to hunt down this story lol
I loved these as a kid. I had all of the large figures and if I didn’t have all of the ghostlings I had most. When these didn’t take off they apparently got bought up by discount stores which is how I was introduced to them. There was a discount store a few blocks away that my mom and grandma shopped at which is where I first saw and asked for these. Afterwards it seemed like every Easter Basket, St. Nicholas Day, Halloween etc would land me one. My favorite was the pirate. Unfortunately I broke his arm off which got super glued into place.
I had both Supernaturals and Visionaries as a kid but never knew what they were. They were my older brother's toys that I played with when he stopped caring about them. I remember always being super weirded up by the Snake Guy that we had.
I had both Supernaturals and Visionaries toys. When I got older, I noticed the two had a fair amount of differences, and frequently wondered what was up with the two different lines (I was 2 when they came out), and didn't know the name Visionaries until about 8 years ago, and I think I figured out Supernaturals about a year or two after that.
HELL YES. I had three of the main figures and two of the ghosts. I loved them. The weapons also worked well with MOTU figures :D I had some of the comics too (I think I was 7ish at the time) and loved how dark they were. Great stories. I found the promo comic for a few pennies in a charity shop a few years ago and it made me so damn happy. Then, because money, I flipped it. I really wish I hadn't.
ABSOLUTELY ADORED the mythology and would LOVE some new figures (minus the holograms... just have different body parts for the change) The UK comic was PHENOMENAL
Jeeez, this was a proper blast from the past! Completely forgot about these.. I had Lionheart & Eagle Eye. Maaan, what I wouldn't give to still have my old toy chest under the stairs. I'm done with the present, take me back to '88 please.
Yes! One of my all time favourite toylines from way back. I have all the figures several times over and the Tomb and vehicles. Being in the UK I also have the comics. Most issues came with a double sided cardboard charecter mask. Fun times.
If I hadn't lived through this era, I would've sworn you were making half of this video up. That said... I do distinctively remember having one of the Ghostlings.
Dude for years I thought the strange hologram chested figurine I found in my attic was a Visionary, stuck it on my shelf and left it at that. But today it turns out I was wrong and after a quick search on ebay it turns out that I have the Viking Thunderbolt from Supernaturals, sans chest plate and weaponry lol
Visionaries had really good serial episodes with good uses and scenarios that played off of the novelty the line was known for.... love the channel... Dan Is The Man
For years, decades even... I thought these toys were Visionaries! I loved them. I'm sure at the time I knew what brand but over the years my adult brain merged the two franchises. The hologram Mandela effect!
God! I loved these as a kid. One of the few lines where I had a lot of them because you could find them cheap. And holy crap, do I need to find those comics!
Yes!! I knew I hadn't imagined that damn doll!!! I too have trawled for information on a half remembered obscure comic that I was bought as a shut up whilst my mum was in the hairdresser's.