The show format was two ten-minute cartoons in a thirty-minute format which I hated so much as a kid. Talk about too many commercials. There were 36 original episodes, and another 11 when it came back in 1981. Then it was part of an hour-long show that included other cartoons called The Space Stars, and was mixed in with Space Ghost and others.

The Herculoids are actually the beasts, not the humans. The three humans in the show (and in the series of figures) are Zandor, his wife Tara, and their son Dorno. The Herculoids assist these three in protecting their land (they are the King and Queen of course), and consist of Zok the dragon-like character, Igoo the rock ape, Tundro the armor plated dinosaur that can shoot rocket blasts out of his horns, and Gloop and Gleep, two energy blobs that can take the shape of just about anything. Throw them all together with the usual goofy villain and the wackiness ensued.

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"Tundro, Dorno, Gleep, Igoo, Tara and Gloop"

The first set included Zok and Zandor. The next two sets finish off the rest of the eight main characters, both humaniod and beast. One set includes Tundro, with the Zandor's son Dorno, and the small shape shifter Gleep. The second set includes the rock monkey Igoo, the lady of the house Tara, and the larger shape shifter, Gloop. They retail for around $40 a set, depending on where you pick them up. You should be able to find them at your local comic shop, and I have some on-line options at the end of the review.

Packaging - ***

The boxes are decent, with a good eye for design and style, but likely to get a lot of damage over time. It's a combination of being so large and so heavy - they are more likely to take abuse. Still, they look pretty good at the start, and the way they've positioned the characters in the box along with the cave background looks great.

Sculpting - Tundro, Igoo ****; Gloop Gleep ***1/2; Humans ***

The real stars of this entire series are the big beasts. While the original cartoon designs are super complicated, there are issues around scale and style that could still kill this score. I'm very happy to say that both Tundro and Igoo look fantastic, and I'm particularly happy with the way the big ape turned out. Both look like they just stepped out of the TV (a far more frightening proposition than some little girl), and they've not only captured the look but added in some cool action features without screwing up the appearance.

The humans aren't quite as exciting, and they suffer from both the smaller size and the less interesting look. They match the cartoon fairly well, but when you take a fairly basic design and do it in a smaller scale, they become even more nondescript. The sculpt seems a little soft too, reducing any detail further. The family does look good together though, and the scale between the humans and the beasts is great.

In between is Gloop and Gleep. You can't get any simpler than these designs, but even these can get goofed. But that's not what you expect from Toynami, and that's not what you get. Both shape shifters look great, and the scale matches well again. The design of the "feature" is great and imaginative as well, and from a sculpting perspective, it doesn't damage the overall appearance of the figures.

Paint - ***1/2

Like Zok and Zandor, the number of colors - and intensity - is fairly limited. The source material was far from bright and colorful, and stuck with a pretty basic palette. That's what we get here, and you can't complain. The lines are all clean, and where detail is required - the faces of the humans, or getting just the right pattern on Igoo's body - the work is excellent.

Articulation - Igoo ***1/2; Humans ***; Tundro **1/2; Gloop, Gleep Bupkis
It should be no surprise that Gloop and Gleep are not articulated - they're basic shapes with little they can do. However, Toynami came up with a terrific way to make up for this in their "action feature," which I'll discuss in a later section.

The humans have decent if not exciting articulation. There's neck, shoulders, wrists, hips and knees. They stand fine on their own, and you can manage to get a few poses out of them as well. They can hold their accessories, although that's more of a sculpting plus than an articulation plus.

Of the two creatures, Tundro is the less articulated. Like Gloop and Gleep, he makes up for it in other ways, but based strictly on articulation he doesn't score as well as Igoo. He rolls along the floor nicely on a series of wheels, and his legs bob back and forth as he rolls. That's not all he does, but I'll save that for the later section. Igoo is the biggest, and the most articulated, with neck, jaw, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles. Sure, his bulky design makes many of the joints have a very short range of motion, but there's still a good number of poses you can master. He also stands great on his own, although that's not much of a surprise considering the size of his feet. All the lady rock apes are going to be checking him out

Accessories/Features - Gloop, Gleep ****; Igoo, Tundro ***1/2; Humans **1/2
Let's talk about the two diorama bases first, since they cover three figures each. These are a little thin, just like the original, but now that you have all three, you realize how cool this works. You can snap them together, creating a full cave diorama, and spelling out Herculoids across the back. There's a place for everyone to stand, but I suggest you find some serious display space for this massive set.

Gloop and Gleep don't have much in the way of accessories, but they have a great feature. Inside each is a hidden compartment that stores a hunk of what feels like silly putty. It's about that same consistency, and matches their body color. This is their transforming version that you can mold into any shape. Then you push a button on the back of the figure, and his eyes pop out, ready to pop on the silly putty version! That was a really imaginative idea, and the kind of thing that proves great action figures can be great toys as well.

Igoo comes with a log club that fits nicely in one hand. Press a button on his back, and he "throws" the log. This ends up being more of a clubbing action, but works fine in that regard. He also comes with a second set of hands, and the high score here is due to the bright engineering on the connectors between the hands and arms. Rather than just pop on and off like so many figures, You slide the hands to one side, freeing the post from the arm, and it comes right off. This works great, is nice and tight, but yet easy to remove without any fear of breakage. Rather than eventually popping the post right off the hand, you should get years of play out of these hands. Like I said, he'll be a favorite with the ladies.

Had there been no dioramas, the humans would have scored worse in this category. Dorno comes with a slingshot, but that's about it. An additional accessory or two for these figures would have certainly helped their overall appeal. Tundro makes up for them though, with a big bag of firey rocks. These are loaded into his back, and as he rolls, his head moves up and down, firing the rocks out of his front horn. This action feature actually works pretty well, much better than I had expected, and was a ton of fun. You'll probably lose the little rocks in no time, but until you do you'll enjoy it.

Value - **1/2
Forty bucks a set is a hefty price tag. Let's face it, that means you'll be spending $120 just to complete the diorama. But all three creatures are fantastic work, walking that fine line between creative toy and pop culture collectible. If you're a big fan of the old show, you'll enjoy these, and although the humans didn't do much for me overall, I love the righteous beasties.

Overall - Igoo, Tundro ***1/2; Gloop Gleep ***; Dorno, Tara **1/2
Igoo and Tundro really blew me away, and these were my favorite characters from the show. Toynami did a terrific job in both capturing their look, and adding in cool action features with every character. Gloop and Gleep are pretty basic looking, but the action feature was a real surprise - and it works pretty good too! The three humans have been the least appealing aspect of this series for me, and while they are in scale, aren't critical to my overall display.

Where to Buy -
Specialty stores like Media Play and Gamestop along with most comic shops are you're best bets. On-line options include:

- Entertainment Earth a good deal for the collector that wants all three sets - $100 for the complete set. They also have each set listed for $40, but they are all out of stock right now. It says more will be arriving soon.