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MMM Alien Callisto

Callisto with his Space Sensor

The Alien Callisto - Who is he?

Billed as Major Matt Mason's friend from Jupiter, Callisto represents the toy line's first departure from science-based conjecture, to science fiction-based whimsy. Callisto has a translucent/transparent green head with distinct white veining and heavily painted eyes. His body has a traditional humanoid shape, but the arms and legs are very thin and flexible, without human knee and elbow joints. For some reason, he does not need a helmet to survive the cold and lack of atmosphere in space. 

Callisto came with a Power Pak that slipped over the collar that allowed the Space Sensor to rotate and "...flick out Sensor Line to collect and gather in planet samples for analysis." This reused a similar pneumatic bellows and line that powered the Moon Suit's arms to extend a line of yellow string with the action of a snakes tongue. Supposedly a "sensor" but we all knew it was a cool gun!

I'm not sure if this is the introduction video (another hasn't yet surfaced), but this commercial from 1969 shows Doug Davis, Jeff Long and Callisto along with the Mattel Astrospace Center (MAC - like the MMM fan club):

Note this is the same for all astronauts and included here as a reference:

Callisto was based on a similar bendy sub-structure as the other Mattel astronaut figures, much like what was previously used for the Gumby figure but with a bit of space age design added - there are hard plastic fins molded onto the wire armature that allow the limbs to keep their relative positions so handheld objects remain upright if needed. Other manufacturing processes used were so unique that patents were awarded:

Mattel Figure Patent:

ADJUSTABLE FIGURE TOY HAVING IMPROVED ARMATURE MEANS (MMM figure)

3,325,939 June 20, 1967 Filed Nov 21, 1966

J. W. Ryan and Ralph Dunn

"A simulated spaceman doll has a soft, pliable body supported by a soft wire armature which is encompassed by rigid stiffeners embedded in the limbs of the doll between its joints and in its body for preventing bending of the limbs and body between the joints. The stiffeners have a non-cylindrical shape and the portions of the wires which are encompassed by the stiffeners are flattened to a non-cylindrical shape for preventing relative rotation between the limbs of the toy and the stiffeners and between the stiffeners and the wires, respectively."

Patent Found by Graeme Walker

John's Notes
It's interesting to note that on the patent document, the figure originally was to have magnets in the boots so the figure could attach to surfaces, like the sled shown (you would pull the sled with a string to have the figure move). Sounds like the beginning of the Space Sled concept to me, and probably predates the Space Station with the boot tabs for holding the figures to the platforms. 

STRING PROJECTING Toy (Callisto and his Sensor)

3,605,326 Sept 20, 1971 Filed Jan 30 1969

A. R. Baginski, David T. Okada, Floyd E. Schlau and Edwin O. Stastny

"A spaceman toy comprising a spaceman figure and a pneumatically powered space probe or gun mounted on him, which projects and retracts a string. The gun includes a chamber with a long narrow passageway through which the string extends, and a hand pump is coupled by a tube to the chamber to apply compressed air or a vacuum to the chamber to project or retract the string."

Patent Found by John Eaton

John's Notes  

If it wasn't for the Sensor I'm sure this would only have been a design patent. Interesting use of pneumatics to achieve the string mechanism.

Prototype:

Prototype Callisto from Mattel 1969 Spring Catalog

The Prototype Callisto exhibits some rather clunky hand-molded details, like the knob-like structures on the chest and the roughly molded boots (see above - the same figure is used in his introduction within the Mattel 1969 Spring Catalog, Callisto packaging and even rendered on the Instruction Sheet).

#6331 Callisto Card Image 1
#6331 Callisto Card Image2

Note that to date, no prototype figures representing Callisto have surfaced.

Figure Variations:

There are a couple of variations of Callisto - the initial release had Callisto with these tall structures above the boots with painted details - the updated Callisto had shorter molded structures above the boots. Here's a comparison:

Callisto Comparison - Tall Boot left and Short Boot right

Like later Major MATT MASON astronaut figures, Callisto had "© 1966 MATTEL, INC." and "U.S. AND FOREIGN PATENTS PENDING" in larger type on his back.

Packaging by Catalog Year:

Callisto could be found in a number of playsets and/or assortments. Here's a list of where you might find him by year and the case size (solicitation size from US Mattel Toy Trade Catalogs - Note that the assortments are all one large case of multiple items so the counts are of the contents):

The most common Callisto figures are those packed from either of the two card variations (Teal card or Orange card) as they were produced in the most quantity and for the longest time. The very unusual Space Discovery Set was only offered one year which may explain the rarity rarity of the white carded Callisto.

Accessories:

  • Space Sensor (Sensor Line with yellow string)
  • Power Pak (backpack)
  • Clear Hose
  • Control Air Pump (Squeeze Controller)

John's Notes:

I fondly remember the first Callisto I saw as a child. I had two brothers (Jay and Greg E.) as friends that lived at the corner house of our neighborhood. One brother was a year older than me, while the other was a year younger. Because they were so similar in age, they would both frequently receive the same presents for Christmas, to prevent jealousy I guess. Right around 1970 I went to their house right after Christmas to see what toys they received (their parents had a little more money than my own, so they always got cool toys that we couldn't afford).

That Christmas they both had a Callisto... boy was I impressed! I loved the line-spitting sensor and simply loved the figure. I begged my parents to take me to the same on-base store that had them in stock. Of course they were all sold out, so I never got one. I don't remember them lasting too long in the possession of my friends, either. They were even rougher on toys than I was I think.

The best Callisto story I've ever heard was related by Mike Ferguson, who also sent me a tape from a radio talk show about the event. It seems the loss of his Callisto was pretty shattering... luckily he finally got his back!

I tried to be as thorough as possible with this information but as always, if you see something that's inaccurate, want to have the information updated for some reason or want to contribute, contact John Eaton.

All Mattel images and captions are copyright Mattel and used without permission. All other content, including images and editorial, is Copyright © 1997-2024 John Eaton and/or contributors unless otherwise stated. If there are any comments or objections, please contact John Eaton.

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