I'll start sharing all that I remember / found (in English, for everyone to understand) in my 27 years of collecting MMM.
1) The MMM toy line was launched in Italy in fall 1968, imported by a joint-venture effort by Baravelli and EG (Editrice Giochi). EG was the Italian importer for Barbie, boardgames (Lie Detector / Barbie reginetta del ballo), Switch'n'Go, Agent Zero M, Little Kiddles, etc. The first ad appeared on Topolino in October 1968.
2) Mattel Italy opened in late 1969. Christmas 1969 saw the launch of Bruciapista (HW) and official Italian MMM products.
3) Mattel Italy products were (slightly) different than their US/Canada/UK/Germany counterparts, as follows:
a) Boxed accessories were not photo-boxes. They were basic printed black, blue & white boxes (just like the sides/backs of US boxes). Everything was written in Italian. In 1975 (I was 12) I checked out a Uni-Tred & Space Bubble at Casa del Giocattolo Nebiolo in Asti (my hometown). It was called something like Trattore lunare (the Corriere dei Piccoli MMM comics had all the translated names. Not sure about this one, but Space Crawler was Rotoragno). The salesperson opened the box for us. I did not see any instructions nor stickers. I just assumed that the toy had been displayed and they had been lost. They had no figures and my mom didn't want to buy it for me as it was.b) Carded accessories included an instruction sheet within the blister pack. The back of cards featured photos of all other packs. Everything was written in Italian.
c) I never actually saw carded figures in stores back in the days, so I don't know what they looked like. I was too small (I was 5 in 1968). I did see figures, accessories, vehicles and the base displayed in store windows. I remember a huge display in the main windows of the Miroglio department store in Cuneo in the summer of '69. I do remember the Reconojet, but in my memory there also was another tethered vehicle. But it's a vague memory.
d) Toy stores belonging to the Giraffa toy group had parallel import MMM toys from the US, Canada and Germany (same for all other Mattel lines. I have German Thingmakers I found in Giraffa stores). I have a Canadian Astro Trac I bought at La Befana store in Genova back in 1991 (my very first MMM purchase).
e) I maintain that I did see a Mattel Italy (non-photo, black blue white box) Base Aliena (yes, Alien Base). I saw the boxed item (never displayed) at Casa del Giocattolo Nebiolo in Asti twice, once for their post-Christmas sale in February 1971 (my first Christmas in Asti. We moved there from Torino in fall 1970). The second time was for their fall sale in September 1971. They had ran out of figures, and my parents would not buy me just accessories without the figure. Nebiolo was the biggest and best toy store in Asti. Asti is located only about 100 miles from Oleggio Castello, were Mattel Italy was at the time. Asti was a rich northern city and Nebiolo was a flagship Mattel store. The box was not square, unlike the "regular" space station. It was rectangular. It featured Scorpio (several Scorpios, as I recall) and Callisto (several Callistos as well). The structure looked the same as the Space Station/Stazione Spaziale, but the top looked maybe different? Not sure. I never saw the interior, so I have no idea whether the color scheme was different.
As those who have read the Italian MMM comic strips published on Corriere dei Piccoli from 1969 through 1970, the comic prominently featured a Base Aliena, where the Callistian lived. So, was the Base Aliena an Italy-only item? There were several Italy-only Bruciapista and Sizzlers set, even Italy-only cars and playsets in other toy lines, also. Mattel Italy had entered the Italian toy market very aggressively and very creatively. They had revolutionized toy ads on Italian TV and children's magazines/comics.
When I first got in touch with Canadian collector Christian De Grandpre` in '94 (I had found his MMM ads on Toy Shop the magazine) the first thing I asked him was if he had an "alien base" for sale. It was at that point that I discovered that apparently nobody had heard of an Alien Base outside Italy.
I tried to get in touch with Mattel Italy's PR several times: in '94, in '98, in 2000. I asked them to let me check their archives for catalogs and price lists. They claimed that they had moved from the original location and early Mattel Italy materials had gone missing.
I just checked again (I'm in Italy on sabbatical. Longest I've been here in 25 years) and it seems that Mattel Italy is no more; or, at least, not the way it used to be. They now have an office in Milan; no local manufacturing in Oleggio Castello, now everything comes from China; and the founder of their original Italian branch died three days ago.
Sigh.
Buon 50esimo compleanno italiano, MMM. I will keep on searching.
Simone Bregni
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