Stone Protectors
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Stone Protectors was a line of action figures released by the Ace Novelty Company in 1993 as the last attempt to market the Troll Doll craze of the early 1990's to young boys. All of the figures were roughly 5" tall and featured cut joints at the neck and shoulders as well as ball joints at the hips. Their heads were a soft, rubbery material with tall, synthetic hair sticking straight out the top. In rotating the right arm of a Stone Protectors figure, a flint module would ignite inside its chest, creating a quick yet bright flash seen through the translucent chest emblem. Unfortunately, the toyline as well as the cartoon that followed it was seen as cheesy imitations of the more popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of toys and cartoon and overlooked by many.
The Stone Protectors were originally the Rock Detectors, a band of awful rock musicians. Thrown out the back door of a club, they found five magical stones which gave them troll-like appearances and special skills (not the least of which is playing good music). This put them at odds with the music-hating Zok and his henchman Zink.
- Clifford became a "rock climber." He is the band's drummer.
- Cornelius (the group's leader) became a samurai with an assortment of appropriate weaponry (katana, shuriken, and a pair of nunchaku made of microphones). He's the band's lead singer, but also plays guitar.
- Chester became an expert at wrestling and received great strength. He plays bass guitar and saxophone.
- Angus became a "soldier" and an expert at turning mundane objects into weapons. He plays keyboard. Angus ostensibly built up the Protectors' bizarre attack vehicles from things like barbecues and lawnmowers.
- Max became an "accelerator" with in-line skates. He plays guitar.
A line of sports-themed figures was also released.
A short-lived cartoon series was also produced based on the characters. In it, Princess Opal of Mythrandir splits the legendary Great Crystal into six pieces to keep it out of Zok's hands. Zok manages to capture one piece, but the other five bond with the future Stone Protectors, spiriting them away to Mythrandir to help Opal upset Zok's schemes and spread a sentiment of peace and freedom with their music. It lasted only one season. It's notable that while the advertisements for the action figures attempted to tie the Stone Protectors into the troll doll fad, the cartoon seemed eager to avoid the comparison. For instance, it replaced the line "trolls on a roll" from the theme song in the commercials with "Don't you know?".
A Super Nintendo Entertainment System game that's based on the show and toys was released in 1994. A prototype Sega Genesis version was released as well. This version was made when ESRB was around. As a result, it got a T rating. The case and cartridge art were different as well.
A board game featuring them was also made.
