With the 2013 San Diego Comic Con starting this week, numerous toy companies are going to be unveiling all kinds of new products. I thought the July Vintage Toy of the Month could be a prelude to a hopefully exciting set of reveals from the Masters of the Universe Classics line by Mattel. Read on for a look at Mermista from the Princess of Power line and let’s cross our fingers that Mattel shows off all kinds of cool MOTUC surprises, especially the most mist-i-fying mermaid ever.

Mermista was a part of the second series of POP action dolls. The card featured the pretty star burst design with She-Ra flying around on Swiftwind. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again; the packaging for the POP toys was just the best. The colors and design always capture my heart. I wish Mattel would release a book of all the toy art and details of each item from the MOTU and POP toy lines. Wouldn’t that be the coolest thing ever?

Here is a closer photo of Mermista. She came with a shield, comb, and seashell backpack with squirting feature. She also came with a comic book entitled A Fishy Business! Her hair was styled in two ponytails that were so pretty. Also, pay close attention to the detail on her tail and fins. The sparkle effect is so pretty with the shades of silver, blue, and green. For me, Mermista was one of the prettiest looking action dolls from the POP line. (My only gripe involved her swivel neck/head piece, like that found on Barbie dolls of the time.)

Here is the card back. Like the other card backs for Series 2, the top portion features a brief bio with a drawing of the character. Below is a description of the action feature, and even further below is a lineup of all the goodies from Series 2! I think we need closer photos, yes?

Mermista’s bio really does a great job of expanding on who Mermista is and just what she is capable of. A water maiden, she controls many aspects of water from waves to rivers. And she enjoys her time with She-Ra and their group of friends. Catra gets no love as Mermista uses her squirting necklace to spray the jealous beauty with water, only when Catra tries to spoil the fun of course. I would even say that Mermista is one of the strongest members of the Great Rebellion.

This picture details more information about what Mermista comes with and how her action feature works exactly. She had a hole in her back (which always freaked me out growing up) and the seashell backpack, when filled with water, would release the water from a hole on her necklace. I only used this feature once. I was never one for getting my toys wet. I was always afraid water would damage my stuff.

The final part of the card featured all the wonderful and glorious characters from the second series of POP toys. I have written before on the names of characters and other items, but I want to really discuss the unique appeal of the second series of POP. I love all the releases from POP, but each wave had a certain sense of flair.

As I have mentioned before, the first series of POP toys had a theme going on. Each character had a designated color and jewel attached to them. Bow didn’t have a jewel, but he had his cool beating heart. Also the characters from Series 1 fell along the lines of being human. Angella may have had giant wings, and Catra had her tail, but each figure was basically a human with some special feature. For instance Glimmer lights the way. Castaspella enchants with spells. Frosta is icy and so on.

Well Series 2 was more about the toys being half human and half something else, not to mention that each character had a color combo, instead of just one sort of color. Flutterina had her butterfly wings with some light purple and peachy orange. Mermista was a mermaid with blue and green coloring. Peekablue was a peacock with some citrus green and sky blue. Perfuma was a sweet smelling flower with an even sweeter pink and green color scheme. Entrapta had hair that reminded me of snakes… bright purple and pink snakes with some flashy gold. Sweet Bee was a bee dripping in honey yellows and pinks with a swath of electric green shadow. Even Catra was more feline this go-around with her silver and pink tiger stripes. (There were some toys that still came with a jewel, like Sweet Beet, Catra, and She-Ra.)

What I like about that lineup is that the second series POP line featured some of the weird mash ups that were usually reserved for the Masters of the Universe toy line. Granted these gals didn’t look like full-on other species like Buzz-Off, Stinkor, or Mer-Man (to name a few) but it seemed like there was more of a hybrid element with this series. I liked that and the Series 2 theme wouldn’t really be replicated with the third and final series of POP toys. So this series, featuring Mermista, is one that holds a special place in my heart. And really when it comes to POP, how it could not hold a special place in one’s heart? There was really nothing else quite like this toy line. Maybe some imitations here and there, but really, POP toys were one of a kind.

These are Mermista’s accessories from my childhood. The tail is no longer shiny or sparkly. The material has not aged the best, but I also got a lot of mileage out of this toy growing up. Her seashell backpack and shield are in a lovely sea green and are made with a softer plastic. Her sea green comb is missing though, as is her comic.

Here is my vintage Mermista! Her hair is not in the best of conditions and the color has faded, but she still looks pretty nice all things considered. I had removed the two pony tails in her hair so the hair never really found a nice setting. Also, her neck peg piece is broken, and I had to super glue her head in place.

Looking at her up close with this picture, there is a great attention to detail given to her necklace and bodice that I hope really translates to her eventual MOTUC release. I also like the look of her face. Each of the POP toys may have had the same sculpt, but the coloring of the eyes and makeup was always different for each character. Here’s to hoping though that we see her at SDCC. That is about it for the July Vintage Toy of the Month! Enjoy and be sure to come back on the 15th of every month. You never know what vintage toy we will be looking at next!

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