Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Spanish Speaking Overkill

In 1992, Hasbro released the Talking Battle Commander series of figures.  The designs were pretty good.  But, the figures all included backpacks that were screwed into the backs of the molds.  This largely ruined the figures and has put them on the backburner of the collector world.  In the late 1990's, though, I came across the figure shown below.  It was a Spanish release of Overkill.

Ostensibly, the packaging difference is the most interesting part.  The figure is named Barracuda, which is a fun alternate name for the character.  You see the Spanish language tags on the rest of the card, too.  The phrases that the figure speaks are in Spanish writing.

This leads to the figure's real surprise.  The pack actually speaks in Spanish.  Instead of the English words, the electronic pack produces bad, 1990's era quality sound of the phrases in Spanish.  So, you can hear Overill (or Barracuda) scream "Nos Atacan!" over and over again.  While I've never seen the other three figures from the set on Spanish cards (to be fair, I've never looked, either) it's reasonable to surmise that they also exist and also have the Spanish speaking variant.

Alas, I sold this figure back in 2001 in an ill advised attempt to raise money to buy retail Joes.  I gave up oddities like the figure below to buy up Laser Vipers and Mirage figures.  Oops.  I'd like to see if the Spanish version has any other differences.  So, if anyone has this figure, or others in the series, and has any additional insights, please leave them in the comment below.

Overkill, Spanish

5 comments:

  1. I purchased a full set of 4 Italian speaking talking battle commanders in Rome way back in 1991 - wonder if there are any others?

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  2. They appear in other European catalogs, so there probably others.
    Those of us not versed in spanish...the phrases are not the same as English versions.
    Maldicion "Curse!" I guess that's "Destroy"
    "They Attack Us!" because "Wipe Out!" didn't translate. This puts Cobra on the defensive.
    "VIVA COBRA!" Lol... no BATS ATTACK, but you admire "Barracuda's" dedication.

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    1. MaldiciĆ³n is used as a curse. Like saying damn it. Nos atacan means: we are under attack. Viva Cupra is Viva Cupra. Cobra was called Cupra in Spain because they didn’t have the trademark for the word Cobra. Another toy comoany did.

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    2. Google translate failed me.
      I like the idea of a evil robot saying "Dammit!"

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  3. When I hear the name of Overkill, I think of the legendary thrash metal band from New York....

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