Ancient Aliens: King Crater the First

Kelloggs Crater Critters, which dropped into kids cereal in 1970, have featured many times on the blog and are one of the most iconic little toys from my childhood. Due to their small size and disposable nature, they can be very hard to find today.  Originally produced by Rosenhain and Lippman for the cereal giant, Kelloggs, they were one of the many little toys which came free with Sugar Smacks and other cereals for more than a decade.

As the branded cereal was quite expensive back in the day, I couldn't get my mum to buy it often, as I wouldn't eat the sickly sweet nuggets and just wanted the toy. In fact I was only granted one box, which luckily had two critters in the box - Glubber and Gloob. 

Naturally, I had to have the full set and took to my network of schoolmates for swaps in the playground for other bits and pieces. Eventually, I managed to gather another two figures, the legendary King Crater (sans the elusive crown and Miss Venus). When I got Miss Venus, I was so pleased with myself, I got in from school and arranged them all on the mantlepiece - but unfortunately, Miss Venus took a tumble and ended up in the grate and I watched horrified as she was consumed by the fire.

Many decades later, I found a set of reproductions from Mexico, as when R & L ceased trading, the original dies and molds found their way over to Mexico and were used to turn out modern versions of the toys in slightly gaudier plastic. At last I had a full set, if only modern casts. Then, while searching for more information online about the range, I ran into one 'Astronit' a collector with a vast knowledge of the industry and an enviable collection of monsters, premiums and all manner of ephemera. Have a look at his Flickr stream, but be prepared to stay a while!: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/astronit/ 

I contacted Astronit, who is a US based fan, called Mike Speth. Mike kindly expanded my knowledge and my hoard considerably, generously spending considerable time giving me background on all manner of plastic and rubber space toys. During the course of our chat, I discovered that Crater Critters also appeared in Japan - with some quite notable differences and two completely different creatures.

Europe/USA release

Since then, I have had the Critter ranks swollen with the addition of more original premiums, courtesy of Andy B, who kindly provided me with almost a full set! Just recently, I came across two more in another loose toy lot, which matched the two I had got in the cereal box all those years ago, even down to the colour. With renewed interest, I emailed Mike again this month and he surprised me yet again by telling me he had found a full set of the original japanese premiums. 

What was even more exciting was that he had discovered a different cereal offer, from 1962, which he felt was the basis for the design of the Critters themselves. Japanese children were invited to 'design an alien' for a 'Cornfrost' cereal based competition and some of the illustrations on the early box were very reminiscent of Miss Venus and King Crater.

'Design an Alien' Panel

He explained that the japanese Crater Critter line arrived five years before the standard line and R&L borrowed the idea and remade the figures to their own specification. The original figures have 'Kelloggs' and their name embossed on them, whereas the 1970 versions are blank. Mike also had a translation made of the box itself, to find out the names of the japanese creatures!

Merry Alien with 'Kelloggs' logo and name on back

TRANSLATION OF THE CORNFLAKES BOX

1962 CORNFROST 'DESIGN AN ALIEN' BOX

GLOOB

GLUBBER

JODRELL JIM

LUNARTIC

BUGSY BACKBONE

UPSY DOWNSY

MISS VENUS

KING CRATER

Notice the differences in the style of the figures, between the original japanese molds and the later R&L designs. Probably the most prominent is the Kings leg arrangement, with one leg foremost under the chin! Octopus/Miss Venus has more pronounced tentacles and the others have different facial expressions. The 'Munch' and 'Rolling' alien have a much more 'childlike' appearance and may well have originated in response to the Cornfrost competition entries. The simple blob-like bodies are strikingly similar again to the designs on the box back, shown above.

JAPANESE EXCLUSIVE - MERRY ALIENS

Crown Alien and Akanbe Alien

Upside Down and Octopus Aliens

Munch & Sleep and Skeletal Goldfish Aliens

Rolling Over and Long Arm Aliens