Cosmix
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Cosmix (Cosmique -cosmic- spelled in the likes of Asterix), is a famous bootleg keshi (such as the popular M.U.S.C.L.E. and Monster In My Pocket) composite line released in France around the late 1980s / early 1990s. The Cosmix were licensed by El Greco "Un hellenistic crafts S.A.", a Greek manufacturer, to Action GT (Action Games & Toys Inc.), a North American company, and imported to France by Idéal Loisirs S.A., a famous French toy distributor.
Ideal Loisirs mixed two different imported keshi lines to create its own franchise. Around the same period, the Cosmix line was marketed in Italy as Exogini by GIG Spa.
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[edit] History
The models and the leaflet catalogues were identical, however the package and character names were completely different. The gum colors and types were also distinct to each line with the exception of the generic "salmon matte" type. The Cosmix had less gum variations than the Exogini line and a third keshi series appearing in the Italian line.
Falsely marketed as a unique extra terrestrials line, the Cosmix were actually decent quality model replicas taken from three distinct keshi lines made of galactic wrestlers and ninjas. The superchery was revealed by collectors a decade after the Cosmix sold out.
[edit] Kinkeshi series (1987)
The first line is the most sought after by collectors for it is a selection of forty Kinkeshi ("Kinnikuman series 1984-87" aka M.U.S.C.L.E.), who are keshi based on the popular Kinnikuman Japanese comic book and anime TV series created in 1979. Several generations of video games helped to popularize the franchise worldwide. The Kinnikuman TV anime series was dubbed and broadcasted in France, on the public channel TF1, as Muscleman ("muscle" being the French translation for kinniku) a couple of years before the Cosmix line appeared in the market.
All characters names have an "or" suffix. Even though or-ending words are common in English, and were introduced in the Middle Age as phonetical deformation of Old French eur-ending words (honneur/honor, valeur/valor, navigateur/navigator, etc.), the "or" suffix doesn't exist in French. However, a wave of or-suffixed action/horror Hollywood blockbusters and B-movies spread in France in the 1980s including Exterminator, Terminator, and Predator. Not only did or-ending words sounded scary and "cool" by that time, but were also fully understandable ("exterminateur", "prédateur", etc.).
[edit] 1st seriesCosmix catalogue 1A
Cosmix catalogue 1B
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[edit] 2nd seriesCosmix catalogue 2A
Cosmix catalogue 2B
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[edit] N.I.N.J.A. MITES series (1988)
The second Cosmix series was made of N.I.N.J.A. Mites which was a distinct line of ninja-themed keshis also imported and renamed by Ideal Loisir.
Cosmix catalogue 3A
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Cosmix catalogue 3B
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[edit] Fistful Of Monsters series (1989)
Instead of the Kinnikuman and N.I.N.J.A.S. characters, these erasers were insect/crustacean-like characters. It was actually a selection of eraser-toys made in China and taken from the American Fistful Of Aliens line. This keshi line is exclusive to the Exogini.
[edit] Plutonian: Blue Exogini (Plutoniani: Exogini Blu)
[edit] Martian: Red Exogini (Marziani: Exogini Rossi)
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[edit] Venusian: Green Exogini (Venuziani: Exogini Verdi)
[edit] Superalien: Exogini (Superalieni: Exogini)
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