Army Ants are a discontinued science fictiontoy soldier line fromHasbro in much the same vein as theM.U.S.C.L.E. andMonster in My Pocket lines. It featured an army of humanoid ants.
Released in 1987, Army Ants were originally released in "squadrons" (sets) of three or eight figures, set on card-backed blister packs. The individual soldiers had various themes, including officers, international soldiers (such as French Foreign Legion soldiers and English guards), and aviators (in the form of flying ants).
Army Ants were organized into two opposing armies: an Orange Army led by "General Patant" and a Blue Army led by "General Mc-Anther". There were 5 sets for each army: 4 of three figures and 1 of eight figures, which also contained the general for the army.
Army Ants were also sold in Europe under several names. The most documented online is theItalian version calledKombattini (the French version was calledTermitors). Kombattini were marketed by GIG, a toy manufacturer that also produced similar toy soldier lines such asExogini (the Greek version of M.U.S.C.L.E.), and gained great popularity between the 1980s and 1990s, partially due to a particularly successfuladvertising campaign. Kombattini used the same 40 molds as Army Ants but with several design differences:
The toys were also sold differently. Instead of cardboard blister packs, they were available in packages of one, buckets of 4, or pyramids of 8 or 14.[1] As for the English version, each figure had a distinct name, but GIG chose to adopt humorous names mangling those of famous people of the time, including politicians, sportsmen and people from the show business (e.g., "Tromba il bomba" for skierAlberto Tomba, "Van Basta il Tosto" for soccer playerMarco van Basten, or "Benigno il Commando" for comedianRoberto Benigni).