by: -RoG-

Today I'd like to travel back to 1988 for a look at the Sega / Tyco "Pocket Power" toy line. The brilliant concept behind Pocket Power was making complete toy sets that were ultra-compact to the point that they could literally fit in your pocket with plenty of room to spare. Pocket Power toys were all just barely larger than a credit card and thinner than most cell phones on the market today. Among the highlights in the product line were miniature hovercrafts, rocket launchers, survival kits, squirt guns, and even a bowling set.

Out of the twenty or so sets that were produced, there was one stand-out that caught the attention of myself and every other kid at the time. It was one of the greatest skeleton action figures ever produced. Its name? Glo-Bones!

Yes indeed, somebody finally realized that kids need to have a portable skeleton toy with them AT ALL TIMES. Glo-Bones is a glow-in-the-dark skeleton... er, pardon me... "Battling Skeleton" action figure that comes with a helmet, shield, and two weapons. Pretty nice how they all just snap flat into that thin little case, flat as can be, eh? Frankly, anybody who wouldn't want a portable skeleton is a numbskull. I'm also a big fan of the packaging art. It's as if he rode into our world on a glowing slime wave, ready for battle. If there's one thing the skeleton armies in Jason and the Argonauts and Army of Darkness were missing, it's gotta be battling skeletons on slime waves.

When it came to the Pocket Power line, they really didn't skimp on features for any of the toys, regardless of how tiny they were. All of the cases actually have little legs that fold-out on the bottom so you can stand them up and display them on any surface. Flip the case over and a little peg pops out that goes into Glo-Bones' foot, and then you can pose him in any way you like without having him fall over. They seriously thought of everything. Well, everything except making more awesome action figures, for Glo-Bones is the only one in the entire series. Poor, lonely Glo-Bones.

Speaking of poses though, did you notice all the screws in Glo-Bones? This skeleton has absolutely incredible articulation for such a small toy. Way ahead of its time. The joints can move up, down, and from side to side. Want to move his feet around? No problem, because Glo-Bones has action ankles! Hell, even the jaw bone can open and close! I'm not sure why they didn't mention that on the package, cuz that's a major feature right there if you ask me. If I released this toy, I'd demand that there was a starburst right on the front of the Pocket Power package which read, "REAL JAW BONE ACTION!", "HIS JAW REALLY MOVES!", or "A MOVING JAW? THAT'S JAWESOME!" I mean, come on... Glo-Bones can do way more than the iconic Skeletor could ever dream of, so he deserves some credit.

As you can see, even when equipped with his weapons (a halberd/mace, sword, and helmet), Glo-Bones' is capable of holding poses that could easily turn ballet and tai chi masters green with envy. It's hard to tell from the photo, but his sword has a small skull on its grip too. Yes, apparently even skeletons think skulls look pretty awesome too. If you're wondering why I didn't equip Glo-Bones with his shield, it's because any skeleton capable of pulling off moves like this clearly needs no shield. Besides, it's not like you're gonna hit any vital organs if you stab him. In fact, I think the only way you're gonna kill a battling skeleton is to knock off its head, which is probably why Glo-Bones wears a helmet. The horns are a nice touch too.

Last but not least, Glo-Bones lives up to his name and then some. When held up to the light for a brief period of time, his bones charge up to let off a seriously impressive glow, even nearly three decades later. It's a seriously powerful glow. In fact, I dare say it's a Pocket Powerful glow! See what I did there? Yep, that's the kind of Pulitzer-worthy material they pay me the big bucks for. And then I wake up.

Sega's Pocket Power toys may have been short-lived, and while they inspired a variety of future compact toy lines, there will never be another miniature skeleton like our friend, Glo-Bones. I don't know of any other skeletons that can fit in my wallet, glow-in-the-dark, and do perfect Van Damme style splits. And for that reason, he will always hold a special place of honor amongst my Halloween collectibles.

My only regret is that I'll never be a memeber of the badass Pocket Power leather jacket gang like these kids:

One final note: if you're interested in learning more about the Pocket Power toy line, I highly recommend checking out the site pocketpowertoys.com. It's an extremely well done fan tribute that a lot of love obviously went into, and it covers each of the Pocket Power toys in great detail, including Glo-Bones.

I'd love to tell you that I have something wonderfully poignant to end this article with, but I think I'll just go with an awful skeleton joke instead:

Q: Why was the skeleton a horrible vocalist?

A: He was skeletone deaf!

THANK YOU AND GOOD NIGHT, FOLKS!

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