A Brief History
Geyperman was introduced in Spain in 1975,
nearly 10 years after his elder brother GiJoe was brought to life
in USA. Geyper, one of the biggest toy companies at that time got
the license from Hasbro USA to produce Geypermans, but the fact
is Geyperman figures and products were based on Palitoy AM items.
Even the GM logo is too similar to AMīs logo.
In the main cities of Spain Palitoy AM stuff
was available for a short period of time, before GM was
introduced. Even when it was introduced, the AM origin of GM was
clear. In the same way Palitoy packaged US Joe stuff as AM in its
early times, Geyper did the same: A lot of AM stuff was packaged
and sold as GM.
It was very succesful when they hit the stores.
Gripping hands and life-like hair and beard catched the attention
of the kids. Also their variety of uniforms was one of the keys
for success as well.
But Geyperman had to share the success with
another action figure : The Madelman (click here
for more info), an entirely made and designed in Spain action
figure. Nearly half the size of a Geyperman, the Madelman has
become the hottest collectible figure in Spain.
After years of success Geyper stopped
producing Geypermans in 1984, nearly at the same time Madel went
bankrupt and also stopped manufacturing Madelman figures. The
high developing and manufacturing costs and the fall of demand of
this kind of action figures were the reasons... :(. Madel sold
the name to Exin Bros who made a 3.75 figures line: Madelman 2050
that wasnīt any succesful. Some years later another company, MB,
released the 3.75 GiJoe line, but that is another story....
After more than 10 years, Geyperman figures have become a
higly collectible figure. And Geyper?. Geyper, the Toy Company,
is still alive, but now is a much smaller company. Unfortunately
they couldnīt assume the market changes and left the group of
leader toy companies long ago.
Any Comments?, Critics?,
Corrections?drop me a mail :)
