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Street Sharks are back as part of the Mattel Creations line, with three unused designs from the ’90s finally brought to life in glorious plastic.
Mattel is bringing back three forgotten Street Sharks designs that never made it into plastic form during the franchise’s ’90s heyday.
Part of the Mattel Creations line geared towards toy collectors, these never-before-visualized figures include a sculpt based on the original design for Ripster as well as two unused villains named Karkass and Clambo. All three figures retail for $75 each and will be open for orders on the Mattel Creations website on Aug. 27.
Ripster, the leader of the Street Sharks, was a muscled bruiser based on a great white shark in his final incarnation, and his original design features a more jock-like appearance with a gym tank top, a footballer’s helmet and dumbbells. Karkass, who appears to be a very early prototype for Street Sharks arch-enemy Dr. Piranoid, is a piranha humanoid in a tracksuit with fish fists, while Clambo is a half-man, half-mollusk wielding over-sized blasters.
“Before they became our favorite animated man-sharks from the ’90s, the Street Sharks started as sketches,” the Mattel Creations description reads. “Some of the sketches eventually morphed into the toothy crime fighters we know and love, and some never saw the light of day. Until now. Our designers dug through the archives to give three original concepts of Clambo, Karkass, and Ripster their time in the water. And the result is fin-tastic!”
The sculpts were realized by Mattel toy designers Alton Takeyasu and Bill Benecke, who both said that they enjoyed bringing the ’90s fish heroes back for both old fans and a new generation.
Takeyasu, who was part of the team that created the original Street Sharks figures, remembered that the designers “wanted to avoid the look of a man wearing a shark mask, so we settled on them looking more like sharks with muscular arms and legs.”
“When I finally got to see the initial concept drawings, I realized I’d TRULY only seen the tip of the iceberg!” Benecke said of the unused Street Shark designs. “I hope we can bring more and more of it out of the vaults so people can see it.”
Street Sharks, detailing the adventures of four crime-fighting brothers who transformed into man-shark hybrids, debuted as an animated series in 1994 and aired until 1997. Similar to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other ’90s toy lines with accompanying cartoons, the Street Sharks Mattel line boasted a wide variety of figures and vehicles, and the toys were even promoted by the likes of a young Vin Diesel during the 1994 New York Toy Fair.
Source: Mattel
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