Mighty Max

Bluebird Toys PLC released Mighty Max in the UK in 1992: a line much like the earlier Polly Pocket, but marketed squarely at young boys. Bluebird knew the format well, though it had not invented it — Origin Products had the pocket-playset concept back in 1983, and Bluebird licensed it, putting the first Polly Pockets in stores in 1989. The shape was familiar; the aesthetic was all horror: playsets called "Doom Zones" shaped like the heads of various creatures, each containing miniature monsters and Max himself, a young boy with blond hair, jeans, a white T-shirt bearing a red "M", and a baseball cap whose color depended on which playset you bought. The line also included "Horror Heads," even smaller playsets, plus subsidiary lines like Monster Heads, Shrunken Heads, and Battle Warriors. Doom Zones ran to three series of six playsets each, eighteen in all; the toyline as a whole lasted from 1992 until it was discontinued in 1996. Irwin Toy handled distribution in Canada; Mattel handled the United States.

Mighty Max extended into television and video games. An animated series premiered September 1, 1993, running to December 2, 1994 with 40 episodes across two seasons, produced by Film Roman and syndicated as part of a children's block called Amazin' Adventures. Ocean Software released a video game adaptation, The Adventures of Mighty Max, for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis. Mattel bought Polly Pocket and Bluebird Toys outright in 1998, by which point the Doom Zones had already stopped coming — a short, strange run of horror you could close in your fist and put in your pocket.