Display MoreX-Toys was founded in 1998 by former McFarlane Toys SVP Robert LoMonaco. The company is best known for their launch product, a line of licensed action figures for the 1999 Wing Commander movie. Wing Commander fans know that they went on to release toys for Warner Brothers' Wild Wild West later that year and that they put out a wave of Saturday Night Live figures before fading away. I was surprised to learn that these were not their only toy lines; they also produced a series of figures for a younger audience licensed from Humungous Entertainment's famed edutainment IPs and two waves of elaborate Elvis figures intended for collectors! This post represents our attempt to produce a complete catalog of X-Toys' products for posterity. The company's final toys were released in 2000 and it had ceased operation by 2003. LoMonaco went on to serve as a marketing and sales consultant for Marx Toys and then as their CEO.
Wing Commander (1999)
X-Toys' first license was Wing Commander. The release was stymied by both the failure of the movie and the fact that FOX was unable to provide licensees a release date for the film until weeks before it hit theaters. As a result, X-Toys couldn't coordinate the release of the figures and they ended up on store shelves months after the movie was forgotten. This also ended the planned line of Wing Commander vehicles which might have had more legs than the characters. X-Toys' Bob LoMonoco talked about the possibility of doing additional 6"-scale collector-oriented Wing Commander figures, potentially based on the games rather than the movie. This line did not materialize.
3.75" Figures
- Blair In Flight Suit (0 17283 10011 2)
- Marine Blair (0 17283 10012 9)
- Marshall (0 17283 10013 6)
- Deveraux (0 17283 10014 3)
- Commodore Taggart (0 17283 10015 0)
- Pilgrim Traitor (0 17283 10016 7)
- Kilrathi General (0 17283 10017 4)
- Kilrathi Pilot (0 17283 10018 1)
3.75" Vehicles (Unreleased)
- Kilrathi Dralthi
- Confederation Rapier
Wild Wild West (1999)
X-Toys went into Wild Wild West with a release date and stores stocked but still couldn't overcome the general disinterest with the movie. Unlike Wing Commander, the company invested in producing two vehicles and a 9" deluxe doll-style figure of Will Smith's James West character.
5" Figures
- James West with Demolition Pool Ball (0 17283 10211 6)
- James West with Power Escape Hook (0 17283 10212 5)
- Artemus Gordon with Retinal Terminus Projector (0 17283 10213 0)
- Artemus Gordon with Hidden Message Shell (0 17283 10214 7)
- Dr. Loveless with Spider Blaster (0 17283 10216 1)
- Rita Escobar with "Venom"-Spitting Arthropod (0 17283 10215 4)
- General McGrath with Capture Disk Stinger (0 17283 10217
9" Figures
- James West, Special Marshal (0 17283 01220
5" Vehicles
- Derailer Tank (0 17283 01231 4)
- Desert Wasp Nitro-Cycle (0 17283 01232 1)
Humungous Junior Adventure Figures (1999)
Humungous is the company which developed famous edutainment characters like Putt-Putt the car and Freddi Fish the… fish. These four figures seem to be X-Toys' most obscure releases… but they're in demand among fans of these games, which have become a major nostalgia point in recent years!
- Pajama Sam (0 17283 10301 4)
- Freddi Fish (0 17283 10302 1)
- Putt-Putt (0 17283 13003
- Spy Fox (0 17283 10304 5)
Saturday Night Live (2000)
X Toys aimed for the McFarlane-style collectors market with their SNL line but they made the seemingly unfortunate choice to focus the first wave on modern characters rather than classics. With SNL's ephemeral quality, characters like Nat X and Goat Boy were forgotten by the time the toys hit store shelves. A second series of Saturday Night Live figures was listed on the packaging for the first but never released. Very low resolution concept art of the figures has survived online.
Series #1
- Samurai Baker (0 17283 10501
- Mary Katherine Gallagher (0 17283 10502 5)
- Nat X (0 17283 10503 2)
- Goat Boy (0 17283 10504 9)
Series #2 (Unreleased)
- Operaman
- Hans and Franz
- Roseanne Roseannadana
- Linda Richman
Elvis (2000)
They say that fifty million Elvis fans can't be wrong… and it seems they buy action figures, too, because X-Toys' Elvis line was their only one to release a second wave. The Elvis figures are intended for collectors and they feature elaborate accessories (one even has a surfboard!) and even light up features. They spared no expense!
Wave One
- Jailhouse Rock (0 17283 10401 1)
- Aloha From Hawaii (0 17283 10402
Wave Two
- Blue Hawaii (0 17283 10411 0)
- Karate Elvis (0 17283 10412 7)
Other Unrealized Products
- Total Annihilation
- Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
- Heroes of Might and Magic
- Unidentified Licensed Miniature Skateboard Line
Mr. LoMonoco mentioned the Cavedog Entertainment and The 3DO Company licenses in an interview with Raving Toy Maniac. Cavedog was a subsidiary of Humongous which X-Toys had worked with on the Junior Adventure toys. He mentioned working on a licensed skateboard line with a celebrity athlete in conversation with Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum.
Bringing characters from the realm of computer entertainment figures big into X-Toys future plans, as they are in active development of toy lines based on popular software titles Total Annihilation (featuring a cool robot milieu), Total Annihilation: Kingdoms and 3DO's Heroes of Might and Magic, the latter two featuring an exciting medieval theme. According to LoMonaco, X-Toys "will enter the collectors market with Kingdoms and Might and Magic by producing top-notch, highly detailed figures. In the case of Total Annihilation, we're planning on a line of very unique robots which will bring 'action figures' to a new level"
