Hey! Look at My Toys!

Vintage Star Wars Thursdays!

2012-02-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

The Rise of the DORK HORDE!

2012-02-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

Hey kids! I just wanted to drop a quick post to officially announce that as of today, my blogs; Hey! Look at My Toys!, Hey! Look at My Art! and Hey! Look at My Books! will cease to exist only to be born again under one, big, fat geeky blog called Lair of the Dork Horde.

I've decided to do this for several reasons, but the prevailing one seems to be; having several specialized blogs is stupid.

So, I have chosen to combine all of my nerdy interests into one big blog, which will still be about toys, and books, and my art, but with the added subjects of things like gaming and other geeky endeavors.

It will still be a very personal blog (I won't be taking on geek news or anything), as my current blogs are, but now just more well-rounded to reflect my myriad interests. And all of my previous posts have been imported to the new blog, so nothing has been lost.

Also, gone will be the "scheduled" postings that I was doing on my toy blog, like a video blog every Monday (I'll just start doing those whenever I feel like it), or the random toy pics on Wednesday (again, whenever the spirit moves me) and the Friday toy articles. I'm thinking I'll try to keep up with the Vintage Star Wars Thursdays, though, because those are fun and hella easy to post.

So, I guess that's it. I'll leave the Hey! blogs up for about a month so everyone gets this message, but from this moment on, I'll be posting over at the Lair of the Dork Horde, so PLEASE update your blogrolls and feel free to follow me or whatever.

And I promise, this will be the LAST blog change I make. I swear.

Anyway. Excelsior! 'Nuff said!

-Reis

G.I. Joe Renegades Snake Eyes!

2012-02-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

I don't have a whole lot of time to blog right now, but I did take these pics of this G.I. Joe Renegades Snake Eyes figure that I bought a while back (in fact, I bought two, one to give away in the 2011 Nativity Contest), so I thought I'd at least post them with a couple of quick thoughts.

First of all, it seems that I have a hard time not buying a Snake Eyes figure every time a new one comes out. I probably have 20 different ones (which I need to dig out and take pics of) and I rarely skip one (although that spinning-kick silliness from last year got passed up). And considering how much I've been LOVING the new G.I. Joe Renegades cartoon, I just knew that I was going to love this figure.

Boy, was I wrong.

Don't get me wrong, the sculpt is wicked cool and the articulation is to die for, but there were a few things that started to rub me wrong about the figure once I opened it.

The first thing that bugged me was that his colors seem off. He more like this deep bluish-gray and I tend to picture him in mostly (if not all) black. And the second thing that sort of got my goat was the fact that his weapons were all molded in the same flat, bland gray, not to mention the fact that he came with the world's stupidest-looking pistol (not pictures, that's how much I hated it).

Oh well. I don't want to sound like a Debbie Downer, but this figure just came off as a bit "meh" to me. Which kinda sucks because this is probably the last G.I. Joe figure I'll be buying (due to some upcoming major changes in my collecting habits) and I guess I would have preferred to go out with a bang. Such is life.

So, to cheer myself up, I tossed his weapons to the side and gave him a puppy. There! That's better!

Vintage Star Wars Thursday!

2012-02-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Random Toy Pic #51

2012-02-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

Video Blog #51!

2012-02-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

Mini Domo Gashapon!

2012-02-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

I love me some vending machine toys (known as "gashapon" in Japan), and since my company has landed the Domo license, I've been paying extra attention to the little brown weirdo, so imagine my joy when I spotted these adorable Domo charms in a gumball machine at my local grocery store...

These little nutballs are all of 50¢ each, and it started out all innocent by plunking in a couple of quarters if I got it back in change when buying my usual Hot Pockets and Pringles, but it soon evolved into me making sure I had some extra quarters in my pocket to better my odds of getting Domos that I needed.

But come on, look how cute they are. Can you blame me?

In fact, I'll be heading up the store for lunch today. Better load up with quarters. :)

Vintage Star Wars Thursdays!

2012-02-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Since the Lego Minifigure of the Week is done (even though I have tons more minis I could show off, I just wanted to do it for a year, which I did), I thought it was time to kick of another weekly photo post, and this time around I'll be posting a different pic of a random vintage Star Wars figure, made to look all old and antique-y, every Thursday until I run out of them. Hopefully I can remember to do this every Thursday. Enjoy!

Random Toy Pic #50!

2012-02-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

Video Blog #50! DA BEARS!

2012-01-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

DC Heroes Fisher-Price Little People!

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Get ready for super-powered dose of mega-cuteness.

A while back, during one of my many moments of searching eBay for Batman figures I don't have yet, I came across a listing for an adorable, chubby-cheeked, cherubic version of the Caped Crusader from the good folks at Fisher-Price (I would later see the Batgirl and Wonder Woman figures on Bubbashelby's blog, Toyriffic). And it was priced as if it was made out of 14k gold, so I passed on it. Well, over time, many more popped up on eBay, all a little too pricey for me (like, $15 for one figure), and since my area of the country is overrun by scumbag neckbeard scalpers and the fact that my nearest Toys R Us just closed (which I have mixed feelings about since it was such a horrendously bad TRU, but then again, it was all I had), I never did find my Campbell's Soup-kid look-alike Bats.

Then I took another business trip to San Diego, and on a whim, swung by a TRU just to see what they had. And lo and behold...

Ho... lee... Toledo! Are these figures cute! Now, I don't normally go in for buying infant/toddler toys, but since I've been going through a major DC Comics phase lately (thanks in part to Lego, which I'll blog about later), I just had to get them all. They rang in at $5.99 each, meaning two figures in each box, obviously, which is a price I can totally get down with.

That Batman is by far the cutest Batman in my entire collection. Totes adorbs.

I love the girls 2 pack, featuring Wonder Woman and Batgirl, which marks only the 2nd Wonder Woman figure in my collection (next to my vintage Super Powers figure).

And in yet another attempt by the universe to get me to stop hating Superman (the first swing that chipped away at my anti-Superman ice shield hit like the pick-axe of the Gods with the release of Mattel's Retro Action Superman, a figure I grudgingly bought and now dearly love), I have no choice but to adore this little button-eyed cutie in red and blue.

The Green Lantern goes without saying but seriously, take a good look at him, doesn't he look like that guy who plays "Cam" on Modern Family. Just sayin'.

So that's that for my latest toy score from my trip to sunny California. Lots more stuff to get too, but I'm afraid after today's raw, unadulterated cuteness, everything else I blog about from here on out is just gonna seem butt ugly.

Thanks for reading!

Lego Minifig of the Week! #52

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

Random Toy Pic #49

2012-01-25T09:03:00.000-08:00

(Another addition to my #2 collection.)

Video Blog #49! OMFG!

2012-01-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

Lego Minifig of the Week! #51

2012-01-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Vintage Topps Flying Things!

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today's article is all about a series of toys that I not only never owned, but never even heard of until a couple of months ago.

It was during one of my trips to San Diego when my boss and I were talking about our favorite things from our childhoods (a common theme that we two nostalgia nerds revisit often), things like Pop Rocks back when the candy was called Cosmic Dust, or the smell of a freshly opened pack of baseball cards. While we were delving into the foggy mists of kid-dom, he told me about these collectible styrofoam toy airplanes that he used to buy at the local drug store. I thought he was talking about the classic balsa wood gliders from my youth, but him being 10 years older than me, he was recalling a toy from another generation.

He described them to me in vague terms; he knew they were sold in flat packs, and that they were made of of a bunch of zany designs (being released in the heyday of the weirdo gross-out era with the likes of Wacky Packages and Rat Fink hot rob designs), such as things like a hot dog making up the fuselage of the "airplane" with grilling forks for wings, and one that was a disgusting foot with a band-aid for a rear rudder.

Naturally, knowing my toy collecting history, I thought he was nuts. But after some serious digging (I had no name to search for at all), I stumbled onto a pic of a toy styrofoam airplane made up of a giant nose with a massive mustache for a wing with then name "Topps Flying Thing".

A-HA! And just like that, I was off! It turned out that once I knew the name, these things turned up with some degree of regularity on eBay, so after skipping a few over-priced (for me, anyway) auctions, losing a couple outright, and passing on some less than stellar examples, condition-wise, I finally landed a lot of Topps Flying things just in time to give them to my boss for Christmas.

Here's how they looked packaged...

The "collect them all" checklist on the backs are a priceless source for knowing which ones were out there. As you can see, I didn't get all of the ones available, and I have a couple not listed on the backs of these packages, so I suspect that there were more than one series, possibly several.

Through a little research, I managed to discover that originally, these were sold blind-packaged (like baseball cards, and how my boss remembered them) and you never knew which one you would get. Later, Topps would just show the kid what he/she was about to plunk down a hard-earned dime for right on the front of the package.

Also, I scored these in two different lots; the sealed ones (shown above) and the loose ones shown below. The sealed ones that I scored are decidedly smaller than the loose ones, making me think that these were probably a later release and a way for Topps to save a little production cost.

I just recently learned that Playing Mantis re-released these a few years ago. So I guess they weren't that unheard of.

The loose ones are priceless. I have to say that so far my favorites are the bacon and eggs and the mustache guy. That sock/foot/boxing glove/green face thing is just born out of a damn nightmare, though.

Of course, we had to build them all right there when I gave them to him (it was an awesome moment, by the way, when he opened them. It was as if 40 years of great memories flooded back into him all at once and I could see it as he let out a long slow breath, winded from the g-forces one is subjected to when instantly flung back in time).

It was a very special moment for me as a toy collector and lover of toy history. I got to learn a ton about an almost forgotten toyline, and I got to reunite a good friend with a beloved piece of his youth. And in those occasional moments when I look around at all of the vintage plastic I have accumulated and briefly wonder, why am I doing this? Well, this is exactly why I do this. To remind myself, and the people that matter to me, that just like plastic, and in this case, styrofoam, absolute unadulterated fun, if truly embraced and enjoyed, lasts forever. And these are the objects that at first spark that fun within us, and can eventually, with just a little digging, remind us of what it was like back when it made sense to fly a hot dog.

Lego Minifig of the Week! #50

2012-01-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

Random Toy Pic #48

2012-01-11T08:47:00.001-08:00

Video Blog #47

2012-01-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

Lego Minifig of the Week! #49

2012-01-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

Lego Minifig of the Week! #48

2011-12-29T07:00:00.000-08:00

2011 Action Figure Nativity Contest Winners!

2011-12-26T06:25:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to our 2011 Action Figure Nativity Contest Winners!

1st Place: Ken N.

2nd Place: Elise W.

3rd Place: Travis B.

Personally, I truly loved all of the effort, creativity and dedication from each and every one of you and had an absolute blast seeing all of your submissions. Many of you put an astounding amount of work into your pics, and I just want to make sure all of you know that it didn't go unnoticed! Congrats to you all!

As for the winners, I'll be contatcting you via email soon to get your mailing addresses.

The prizes include: a Marvel Universe Power Man and Iron Fist 2 Pack (1st), a G.I. Joe Renegades Snake Eyes (2nd) and a 3 pack of killer Hot Wheels cars (3rd)!

You can all jolly well bet on me hosting another contest like this next year! Maybe another nativity, maybe another scene. I have a year to decide.

Anyway, congrats to the winners and my sincerest thanks to all that participated! You all rock!

Hope you all got tons of new (or vintage) toys for Christmas and here's to a toy-filled 2012!

Taking a Little Holiday Break...

2011-12-22T14:50:00.000-08:00

Hey kids! I just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that next week I'll be taking a bit of a break. I have a ton of work to do (awesome things coming from Mixo in 2012!) and I want to do some stuff on my other blogs. But then I'll be back on January 2nd to kick off the new year here at Hey! Look at My Toys! with lots of new toy posts.

In the meantime, I just want to once again give a massive thank you to all of you who participated in the first annual Action Figure Nativity Contest. There's still a few days left to vote and I will check in on the 26th to officially announce the winners. So if you haven't voted, VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

We have some runaway leaders in this contest so far, so if you want to get in on the prizes, you all need to spread the word! Get all of your family and friends to vote for you! Link to the contest post on your blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Win yourself some TOYS!

So, that's it for now. Gonna go play Skyrim. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

(Special thanks to Jboy Pacman for the above figures which came in the killer surprise toy-filled care package that arrived just in time for my birthday! More on that awesomeness later.)

Lego Minifig of the Week! #47

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Random Toy Pic #47! Galaxy Laser Team Visits Christmastown!

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

The 2011 Action Figure Nativity Contest is HERE!

2011-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome one and all to the 2011 Action Figure Nativity Contest!

This is the first year I'm hosting an Action Figure Nativity contest and the call out to my dork horde brethren did not go unheard, with so many of you stepping up and really delivering some incredible, zany, original, brilliant and all-around awesome nativity scenes made up entirely of toys and action figures.

Like I said, this is a contest, and the winners (1st, 2nd & 3rd places) will be determined by the readers via the little poll on the right-hand side of the blog. Just click the button next to the name of your favorite and let your geek voice be heard! Voting ends on Dec. 26th at midnight and the winners will be announced later that day (although the results will be obvious, just look at the poll). Prizes will be mailed out shortly thereafter, once I get everyone's addresses.

I would like to sincerely thank each and every one of your who participated! Have a Merry Christmas and good luck in the contest!

Now, without further ado, here are your 2011 Action Figure Nativity entires...

Anthony V.

John G.

Matt F.

Fabio G.

Liko N.

Jason L.
(Listed as Lason L. on the poll. I made a typo and now can't change it. Oops!)

Nathan N.

And finally, my 2011 Action Figure Nativity! Although I'm not eligible for the contest, I just had to make one of my own (this being the 3rd year in a row that I've made one, thus becoming a personal tradition for me), and share it with you all.

As you can see, this year the baby Jesus is being played by my favorite yellow Lego spaceman, Joseph and Mary are played by Indy and Marion, the shepherds (all white-bearded chaps) are Obi-Wan Kenobi, Uncle Jesse and that wizard dude from Dungeons & Dragons, the three wise men are Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (with his gift of a football, natch), Frankenstein's monster (with a copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!) and X-ray Man (with his gift of a giant slab of meat), and the animals of the scene being played by Snoopy, Woodstock, Garfield and, in a sense, Pookie.

Again, thanks to all of you who sent in pics and thanks in advance to all of you who take the time to vote for your favorite! Good luck to you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Awesome Toys of Christmas Past! Cookie Monster Edition!

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today's Awesome Toy of Christmas Past was not only one of my best friends ever, but is also the very first Christmas present that I remember receiving. Sure, we had Christmases when I was one and two years-old (and technically one when I was a week old), but I don't really remember any Christmases until I hit three. That was the year that the whole concept hit home with me. It was the first year that I heard of and met Santa Claus (he literally came knocking on my door), and the very first year that I remember coming down the stairs from my bedroom, with my parents and brother all excited and seeing that tree all lit up in the chilly December morning, practically lifted off the ground from the spilling mountain of presents underneath it.

And out of all of these presents (and there were so many great ones that first year), the one that my eyes immediately locked onto was the fuzzy, blue hug-machine that I had seen shovel countless cookies into his maw everyday on Sesame Street ever since I could remember. That's right, kids, that Christmas in 1975, I got my very own Cookie Monster.

I received this Cookie Monster as a gift from my grandparents on my Mom's side. To be honest, this would be the kick-off to many Christmases of being spoiled by them. C.M. sat upon a rockin' mini motorcycle-styled kiddie-trike (that I completely ignored at first) with a folded note in his mouth that said, "Feed me a cookie!" and being the well-behaved child that I was with a penchant for following orders (yeah, right), I immediately crammed a snowman shaped sugar cookie into his mouth, sending crumbs everywhere and laughing like a fool over the whole thing.

Cookie Monster would instantly become my closest cohort. My Partner in crime. My adventuring sidekick. For the next several years, Cook would go on camp-outs, sleepovers and vacations with me. When I would first learn to sound out words, I would read him books at night, and point out my favorite panels from Sunday comics pages. I would hold pens in his hand and make him draw. I would body slam him in epic wrestling moves. But mostly we would just sleep, Cookie Monster by my side, thinking back on the day's events as we wound down, only to wake the next day, ready to take on any new adventure that came our way.

The original Cookie Monster was lost (as all my toys were), so through almost two years of searching and more than a couple of lost auctions, I finally scored a new one. Now, I don't mean that this is a new Cookie Monster made by a new company. I mean that this is an original 1974 Knickerbocker Cookie Monster plush, that had never been played with and arrived with his tags still attached!

When the box arrived, I did my best to study him with a grown-up collector's eye, checking his condition, noting the aesthetics of his vintage construction. But that lasted all of about a minute before the three-year-old inside of me burst out in a heart-breaking rush of oh-god-I've-missed-you-so-much and all of my pretensions as a serious toy collector fell away and all I could do was smile, rattle his eyes (they really rattle!), try not to cry, and then hug him just like I did all those years ago on the very first Christmas that I remember.

Now, bring on our next adventure!

Lego Minifig of the Week! #46

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

Random Toy Pic #46! What Warduke Always Wanted!

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Video Blog #46!

2011-12-12T14:30:00.001-08:00

Action Figure Nativity Contest Reminder!

2011-12-11T08:04:00.000-08:00

Awww... Hammerhead finally got that Batman figure he always wanted. It's a Christmas miracle! Thanks Playmobil Santa!

Howdy, boys and girls! I just wanted to give everyone one quick, final reminder that all entries for the Action Figure Nativity Contest must be in one week from today, on December 18th at midnight! All entries will be posted the next day, on December 19th, and voting will begin (there will be a poll on the right-hand side of the blog).

ORIGINAL POST WITH RULES AND STUFF HERE!

1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will win TOYS! TOYS! TOYS!

I've gotten so many great entries, but we the more the merrier! So break out those those action figures, Lego minifigures, M.U.S.C.L.E. men, Smurfs or whatever else you got and tell your version of the birth of the baby Jesus!

And Merry Christmas!

Awesome Toys of Christmas Past! Tomy's Rascal Robot!

2011-12-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

Today's Awesome Toy of Christmas Past is one of those toys that was a staple of kid-dom back in the late '70s and early '80s. I hardly new a kid who didn't have at least one of these, and I happened to have two of them, thanks to their widespread availability and their almost mystical ability to be the perfect stocking stuffer.

I'm talking about the classic wind-up Rascal Robot from Tomy!

These little, dome-headed walking wonders were everywhere back in the day. I remember a brief period in 2nd grade when about 5 or 6 of us boys in my class all had one of these and we would wind them up and race them to the edge of a desk. And considering how slowly these little dudes strolled along, it had to have been the most boring race in history, yet we did it during every indoor recess that winter.

Tomy was huge back int the '70s/'80s, ruling the toy shelves with dozens of hand-held games (either run on batteries, clockwork or even water) and the impulse buy areas with their seemingly endless array of wind-up animals that walked, waddled, jumped, swam or tumbled across many a living room floor or coffee table on Christmas morning.

My first Tomy robot was the classic red and blue model, which seemed to be the most common. There was just something about this mix between R2D2 and that Forbidden Planet robot that made this guy so endearing. In fact, it was much more than just a simple wind-up toy (which usually were fiddled with occasionally on their own for a few minutes), but mine would quickly become integrated into my action figure adventures taking up the role of interplanetary sidekick/personal computer to my Princess Leia figure.

Later, (maybe even the following Christmas) my stocking would spill forth another Tomy Rascal Robot, but this time it was the somewhat more rarely seen (in my neck of the woods, anyway, thus earning many ooohs and aaahs from my classmates in 3rd grade) black and gold version.

This crimson domed droid was also immediately whisked into my toy adventures and took his place at none other than Darth Vader's side, storing important spy information, using his sensors to located hidden rebels and even occasionally performing an act of torture. This, in my eyes, was one mean little robot.

After all these years, I have never forgotten my beloved Tomy robots (Like I have forgotten any other toy?!), and I was pretty stoked to have scored these two on eBay (despite their matching broken claws) a while back. Eventually, I'd like to find a couple still sealed in their packages for the sheer nostalgia it would bring forth, seeing them once again as they were the moment they were pulled out from my Christmas stockings.

Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Droids.

Lego Minifig of the Week! #45

2011-12-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Random Toy Pic #45

2011-12-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

Video Blog #45!

2011-12-05T11:41:00.000-08:00

2011 Action Figure Nativity Contest Reminder!

2011-12-02T08:09:00.000-08:00

Hey kids! I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that you have just over two weeks to turn in you submissions for the Action Figure Nativity Contest. Make a nativity scene! Take pictures! Win prizes!

You can read all of the details here...

2011 Action Figure Nativity Contest

I've already had some awesome submissions, but the more the merrier!

All pics must be emailed by midnight on December 18th! Pics will be posted and voting will begin on December 19th! Winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd place) will be announced on December 26th and will win toys, toys, toys!

And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Awesome Toys of Christmas Past! Super Toe!

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

We're going way back to Christmas of 1977 for this one. I had just turned 5 years old and although I wasn't the most sports-minded kid (usually preferring to draw for hours on end or make up adventures with my action figures), it was pretty hard in my household, between my Dad and brother's influence, to not be at least a little interested in throwing the ol' pigskin or running some bases.

And today's toy (Part 1 of my 4 week look at favorite Christmas toys) is a prime example of how, every now and then, the sports world and the toy world collided in a brilliant flash of serious down-on-the-carpet fun.

This week's Awesome Toy of Christmas Past is Super Toe! The football kicking gridiron fellow from Schaper Toys!

Super Toe was one of a series of Super Jock toys from Schaper that came out in 1975 and lasted for several years. You can read about the other toys in the line, and see a bunch of pics of each toy (including the basketball shooting dude that I also got for the following Christmas) over at Plaid Stallions.

Super Toe was a pretty basic toy. He's a football player that kicks a football between a goalpost. Sadly, I found this chap on eBay without his signature flat-ended footballs or goalpost, so I guess I'm still on the hunt for them.

Even as a kid (destined to go into graphic design), I remember loving the starkly designed faces on these toys. I mean, look at him... that dude is grim.

The toy itself was pretty simple. You put a football in front of his right foot, push down his head, and POW! He'd kick the ball right throught he goalpost! Well, hopefully. It took quite a bit of futzing and practice to get it just right, but for some reason, the simple act of finally getting the pigskin through the uprights was unbelievably satisfying.

My brother and I once spent a couple of hours trying for field goals and extra points, moving the goalposts further and further away from the kicker. Then we got bored with that and tried to kick oyster crackers at each other while the other would try to catch it in his mouth. It wasn't easy. Oyster crackers just can't get much air or hang time.

Of course, it didn't take long for me to realize that if Super Toe can kick a football, he can kick all kinds of things and soon many of my toys were in danger of getting the boot from this focused place-kicker. And since I'm lacking in footballs for the piece currently in my collection, maybe I need to find something else...

Oh no! Artoo!

Just kidding, I wouldn't do that to poor Artoo. Not as an adult vintage toy collecting nerd, anyway. But I'm sure I did it a couple of times when I was a kid.

Thanks for reading and tune in next Friday for Part 2!

Lego Minifig of the Week! #44

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Random toy Pic #44

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Video Blog #44!

2011-11-28T11:20:00.000-08:00

I'm Seriously Getting Into Paper Toys...

2011-11-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ever since the company I work for has started dabbling in papercraft stuff (we're launching a huge papercraft playset series in a few months), I've been slowly falling more and more in love with building cool things out of paper.

It was in this spirit that I decided to pick up this box set from Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks back that was filled with ten different papercraft robots you can build and even pit against each other in a paper-robot battle royale...

The ten different bots come on these sheets, which are already perforated and scored for easy punching out and folding. Then, all you have to do is glue down the tabs in their appropriate spots and before you know it, it's Robot Throwdown Time!

I've only made 6 of the ten so far. Here they are...

There was something so satisfying about building one's own toys. I mean, yes, they were already designed and perforated and scored and super easy to build, but I still couldn't help but feel like I've sort of "earned" these toys. Before I knew it, I had a practically instant collection that took just a little more than buying it and taking out of a package.

It's official: I'm hooked.

I'm planning on picking up these two gems as well, before taking the step of printing and cutting out some choice pieces that I've found on the interwebs. And, of course, once the papercraft playsets that I'm personally working on are released to retail, that should be the most satisfying collection of all!

Lego Minifig of the Week! #43

2011-11-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

Random Toy Pic(s) #43! Having Fun with Hipstamatic and Vintage Star Wars!

2011-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Video Blog #43

2011-11-21T11:28:00.000-08:00

The 2011 Action Figure Nativity Contest!

2011-11-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

Hey there fellow toy lovers and collector geeks! December (my absolute favorite month of the year) is almost here, and you know what that means... Christmas!

And to celebrate the Yuletide Season, I thought it would be fun to host a little holiday picture contest.

As some of you may remember, for the last couple of years, I have posted a classic Nativity scene (that scene where baby Jesus is all lying in a manger and stuff and there's a bunch of animals and sheep herders and kings with incense and whatnot hanging around), only made up entirely of action figures and various other toys.

Here they are...

2009

2010

Well, I thought that not only should I make my own Nativity scene again this year, but I should also invite you all to make your own as well (last year, we had a few of you get in on the action and it was epic).

But then I thought, why not make it really fun and vote on a winner and the winner gets something? Even better!

So here it is...

ACTION FIGURE NATIVITY 2011 CONTEST!

Hosted by Hey! Look at My Toys!

Just make your very own Nativity scene out of various toys and action figures and email a good sized pic (at least 1000 pixels wide) of it to reisobrien[at]gmail[dot]com, with the words 2011 NATIVITY in the subject line along with you name and a link to your blog no later than...

DECEMBER 18th

That gives you a whole month from today to get this done and sent in!

I'll post them all right here on the blog and include a poll with everyone's name for people to vote on their favorite. You can also post your Nativity scene on your blog as well along with a link to here so your readers can vote for you. The person with the most votes will win the grand prize of a big, fat bag of brand new toys (sponsored by yours truly) and the runner up will receive one brand new toy (also sponsored by yours truly).

I have no idea what the prizes will be yet, but I'll try to make them something cool. And, no, I will not be eligible to win, since I am hosting this.

The winners will be announced on December 26th!

So voters will only have one week to vote for their favorite.

Your Nativity scene will need action figures to play the parts of baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the three kings, some shepherds, an angel and some barn animals. And maybe a little drummer boy.

Feel free to spread this around! The more the merrier!

Now, go get your Birth of a Savior on!

G.I. Joe Colorforms!

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ever since I posted about that Dungeons & Dragons Colorforms set that I scored a while back, I've been going a little Colorforms crazy. I mean, I've only really bought two more setsd, but I keep searching them on eBay and think I may have to pull the trigger on a few more. Maybe I have just found myself a little side collection. Great. That's all I need.

Anyway, to be honest, I'm not even sure if Colorforms counts as a toy, since it's sort of part playset, part craft set and even has hints of boardgame-ness to it. I guess since it's made to be be played with, and in such a way as to incite imagination and adventure, that's enough for it to be posted here on my toy blog.

But I digress...

Today, I'm talking about a recent acquisition that instantly transported me back to Christmas of 1982, when just a few weeks before I had discovered a new-found love for a new toy line called G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. By 1982, I was still deep in the throes of Empire Strikes Back love, but that had been somewhat diluted the previous Christmas by Masters of the Universe, and both of those franchises would take a major hit from my sudden lust for all things G.I. Joe.

I had discovered G.I. Joe completely on my own, which was a rarity, usually being influenced by one of my friends, or some kid at school or even a Saturday morning toy commercial. But the very first time I had seen a Joe figure was when I stumbled upon them at a Woolworth in Adrian, Michigan in early December of '82, with a wad of birthday money burning a hole in my pocket.

They were like nothing I had ever seen. They were a whole new departure from my Star Wars & MOTU figures, with their para-military look, their better articulation and their personal armories of deadly weapons. I had a cool $20 in my pocket (a fortune to a soon-to-be 10-year-old back then), so I picked up Stalker, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Rock-n-Roll and Grunt.

I then ran home and declared to my Mom that I was now an official flull-blown G.I. Joe fanatic and that's all I wanted for Christmas that year, which turned out to be a blessing for my Mom because she had been banging her head trying to figure out what I wanted that year, and quite frankly, I had no idea. Needless to say, that Christmas was all about G.I. Joe, but I'll save that story for another time.

But one toy that I got that Christmas that I do want to talk about right now was my G.I. Joe Colorforms action playset!

Colorforms were a weird toy. I remember getting a new set every Christmas, the only reason for which (because I never asked for one) was that they were probably easy to find and cheap, two aspects that parents love at Christmas.

Still, I always went "Oh! Yeeeaaahhhh!" every time I opened a set. Granted, they were the type of toy that got stacked in the I'll Get Around to Playing with This Later pile in my bedroom, while the next few days were completely sucked up by action figure adventures and hand-held LCD game tournaments. But eventually I'd end up cracking the Colorforms box open and spend a couple of hours carefully choosing where each piece would go and trying to come up with a halfway decent adventure scene. Once that was done, I'd then try to make a different yet equally adventurous scene, but the realization would set in that the pieces and the scenery pretty much worked one way.

Then the box would get sent away to the purgatory that was our cabinet full of board games, to be played with never again, but still, never quite truly forgotten...

Now I find myself with another G.I. Joe Colorforms set, just like the one I had all those years ago, and maybe it's the rosy glow of my nostalgia-goggles, but this set is 10 times as awesome as I remember it.

The set, like all Colorforms, comes with the usual static background, in this case involving some sort of '80s-style jungle warfare scene that for some reason required an exploding volcano.

The sets also came with several die-cut vinyl sticky thingies in the shapes of your favorite heroes such as Striker, Scarlett & Snake Eyes below....

The vinyl pieces that came with these sets were always very simply illustrated and colored, and always came on two different colored sheets, in this case green and yellow. To be honest, this is one of the things I find so charming about Colorforms nowadays. It's almost like looking back on a forgotten form of American folk art.

How random are some of the items included in this set? A shovel? A flying eagle? And of course, the obligatory monkey.

The funnest part of this particular set, which I scored on eBay, was that I had bought it without seeing the insides, but I was okay with that since the seller claimed it was complete and it was hella cheap. So imagine my surprise when I find these two extra sheets of vinyl play pieces inside. At first I was like, Oh cool! Sound effects and bad guys! But then I looked closer and I was like, Wait... is... is that... is that K.I.T.T.?!

Heck yeah it was K.I.T.T! A few of them actually, with a couple of little Michael Knights as well. Somehow, the seller (or the original owner ages ago) must have accidentally stuck these sheets from a Knight Rider set into the G.I. Joe set. Which is a bonus for me, because now I get to make such exciting scenes as this one...

Anyway, the nostalgia bomb hit pretty hard on this one when I opened it up that started playing with it. I began to build a little scene, jam-packed with over-the-top para-military action, with Scarlett almost being bitten by a snake, and a dude climbing a rope, and Zap getting some medical supplies, and Breaker doing something up in the hut tower, and a monkey, and some dudes flying with jet packs, and Stalker jumping up in the air with an American flag, going "Heck yeah, America!"

And then it hit me... I had made this very same scene almost 30 years ago.

Awesome.

Lego Minifig of the Week! #42

2011-11-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

Random Toy Pic #42! Ewoks in the Forest...

2011-11-16T06:30:00.000-08:00

(Special thanks to Colin. May the Force be with You.)

Video Blog #42

2011-11-14T11:24:00.000-08:00

Mezco Mez-Itz Batman & Batmobile!

2011-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Wow... I never thought I'd dislike a Batman toy so much...

Today's featured toy is the Batman & Batmobile set from Mezco from their artsy, hipster Mez-Itz line, which is basically their mini version of Mighty Muggs or whatever. Now, I've been wanting one of these Batman Mez-Itz figures ever since I first saw the preview pics of them on the interwebs.

I almost bought one from the Mezco booth at SDCC, but the guy there was such a total jerk to me that I had to walk away before I punched him in his smug little nerd face (that's another story).

So, when I finally saw this set on Entertainment Earth, and for a markdown price due to what they called "dings and nicks", I pulled the trigger.

I guess the "dings and nicks" they're referring to is that teensy weensy little dent in the front plastic. Fine by me!

So, I ripped this box open and couldn't wait to get this guy on the Bat-shelf. As soon as I got him out and set him on the table next to his iconic car, I was immediately struck by how massively huge the Batmobile looks next to the figure. I mean, it looks more like a Bat-SUV. So, that's strike one.

I didn't let the size of the Bat-SUV bother me too much, because to be perfectly honest, I mostly wanted the figure, which I have to say is a-freakin'-dorable. His shape is cute, the paint aps are solid, his little cloth cape is nice and he's all-around a top-notch toy. I especially love that his little head is on a ball joint so he can sort of look all around. Super cute!

I then wanted to put him in his giant Bat-SUV, so I... pulled... off... the entire... roof? Really?! That's how I'm supposed to put him in? They couldn't have come up with a little hinged cover or something? Damn, Mezco... that's weak. I mean, Fisher-Price could do that in the '70s. Ugh... Strike two.

I then got a good look at the inside of this thing and I was really happy to see how well-detailed the dashboard is, with all its little dials, buttons and gauges. I especially loved the little screen with Joker's grinning face on it. nice touch. That still doesn't excuse the whole roof coming off thing, though.

But, I have to admit, Batman does look pretty cute sitting in the seat.

Then I did what I always do when I get a new toy vehicle; I place it on the floor, give it a good push, and make vroooom! noises. Only, this vehicle didn't vroom. It didn't even budge. Why? Because the wheels wouldn't turn at all. I looked at the bottom of the car... Yep, there's a couple of axles in there, so it should roll. But mine didn't. Hmmm...

Then, it wasn't until I was looking over the packaging that I found this little scrap of paper, folded closed and taped down underneath the plastic piece that all of the toy parts were all attached to with twisty ties. I pulled out the plastic, peeled up the tape, opened the plastic sleeve that it was in, unfolded it and saw this...

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! Wow, Mezco... this is suckiness beyond all things that suck. What are horrendous folly of toy design. Yes, I know this is an "adult collectible" but Jesus Christ, toy cars always have wheels that roll! I could literally go into my garage right now and, with limited tools and things I find under my cabinets, make a toy car that may be ugly as hell, but would still have wheels that rolled.

I was stunned. What an astonishing piece of disappointing crap.

So, with all of that having been said; I love the figure, and it will take its rightful place on the Bat-shelf, but don't be surprised if you find that Batmobile in my $1 bin at my next toy show. I would give it to one of my nephews, but I wouldn't want to make them cry by giving them a toy car that doesn't roll.

Okay, rant over.

Lego Minifig of the Week! #41

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Random Toy Pic #41! A-Team Van New & Old!

2011-11-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

Video Blog #41

2011-11-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

Tim Mee Jumbo Galaxy Laser Team!

2011-11-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, I'm a complete nut-job over the vintage Star Wars knock-off line of Army-man-style plastic figures from Tim Mee called Galaxy Laser Team.

I had gotten a bag of these toys back in 1979 and played with them constantly, mixing them up with my Army men, and later with my figures from my Dragonriders of the Styx playsets, making some of the most epic time-traveling, UFO-landing, dimension portal-finding adventures to ever take place on my bedroom floor.

It took a while, but I finally managed to score some Galaxy Laser Team (sometimes called Star Patrol) figures on eBay a while back, and they have held a high place of honor on the Epic Shelf of Nostalgia ever since.

So imagine my joy at finding two of the very rare jumbo versions of two of the figures at a recent toy show...

Above, we see what I have always thought of as the Han Solo and Chewbacca of the Galaxy Laser Team universe, although the gunslinger clearly looks to be modeled off of an earlier Buck Rogers kind of vibe. A fun fact about them is that they appear to be carrying little molded replicas of actual toy guns also made by Tim Mee.

As you can see, the larger figures come in at about 5" tall, show above with a regular figure for comparison.

The truth is, I'm not exactly positive that these are actual Tim Mee productions or simply larger bootlegs. I do know that Tim Mee made larger figures (such as their line of 5" tall Army men), but I also know that this particular line of toys has been bootlegged quite a bit.

I'm not sure. They're pretty darn good sculpts, so I'm leaning towards them being official, but I've never seen silver ones before. Anyway, it was a hell of a find for me and now my Epic Shelf of Nostalgia is all that more laser-riffic.

Lego Minifig of the Week! #40

2011-11-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Random Toy Pic #40

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Video Blog #40

2011-11-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

EDIT: I neglected to mention the four Ewoks that Colin included, as I had set them aside for their own post. So... well... expect an Ewok pic in the future.

The newly updated list...

Happy Halloween from Darth Adidas!

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

from Darth Adidas

Hey! Look at My Toys!

I'm the Lord of Sith, there is none higher
Sucker Jedis should call me sire
To burn Alderaan, you must use fire
I won't stop Darthin' till I retire!

Halloween Monster Party! The Monster Mash!

2011-10-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Monster Party! The Bloodsucker Banquet!

2011-10-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Monster Party! The Werewolf Wedding Crash!

2011-10-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Monster Party! The Gillman Gala!

2011-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Monster Party! The Mummy Masquerade!

2011-10-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Lego Minifigs! #4: The Monster!

2011-10-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Lego Minifigs! #3: The Mummy!

2011-10-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Lego Minifigs! #2: The Wolfman!

2011-10-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Lego Minifigs! #1: The Vampire!

2011-10-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #21: Haunted Mansion Edition - The Bride!

2011-10-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #20: Haunted Mansion Edition - The Skeleton Hitch Hiker!

2011-10-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #19: Haunted Mansion Edition - The Traveler Hitch Hiker!

2011-10-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #18: Haunted Mansion Edition - The Prisoner Hitch Hiker!

2011-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #17: The Scooby Screamer!

2011-10-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #16: The Playmobil Peeper!

2011-10-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #15: The Kinder Kouple!

2011-10-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #14: The Eerie Eraser!

2011-10-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #13: The Luminous Lego!

2011-10-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #12: The Cheerful Fearful!

2011-10-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #11: The Grimacing Grimace!

2011-10-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #10: The Papo Petrifier!

2011-10-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #9: The Vintage Vapor!

2011-10-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #8: The Terrible Topper!

2011-10-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #7: The Kozik Kreap!

2011-10-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #6: The Blinker!

2011-10-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #5: The Fisher Price Phantom!

2011-10-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #4: The Happy Horror!

2011-10-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #3: The Goulish Game Piece

2011-10-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #2: The Pale Pac Man!

2011-10-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

21 Ghosts! Ghost #1: The Wailing Wind-up!

2011-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Taking a Break... Sort of...

2011-09-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hey gang! I just wanted to take a quick moment to let everyone know what's going to go down with the blog (and my other blogs) over the next month or so. Don't worry, I'm not pulling a Geek Orthodox. ;)

As of tomorrow, it's officially October which means it's time for the Halloween Countdown 2011! As I mentioned before, this blog will be taken over by 21 days of ghost toys, followed by 10 days of monsters toys! Each day a new toy pic will be posted for your spine-tingling enjoyment!

The blog will be on autopilot, pretty much, but I'll still be around replying to comments and whatnot.

Also, this will give me some time to post more stuff on my other blogs: Hey! Look at My Art! and Hey! Look at My Books! The latter of which has all of 4 readers, it seems, but I strongly urge you all to check it out, as I'll be posting all kinds of stuff about geeky books, comics, trading cards and any other form of nerdy paper ephemera that I think fits. I mean, there's already a complete scan of a classic Mr. T children's book, and I'll be posting entire scans of the Dukes of Hazzard punch-out book very soon, so you all can print out and make your very own General Lee and Cooter's garage!

In other news; I've been trying to think of what I could do for December, theme-wise, to make the toy blog feel more festive. Any ideas?

Also, I'm seriously contemplating devoting the entire month of November to vintage Kenner Star Wars figures. Would that bore the hell out of everyone? Let me know. And I have a toy show to go to in October, so I'll have to squeeze in a report on that at some point. I don't know.

Anyhoodle, with that, I take my leave as the auto-post thingy takes over the blog tomorrow. The Great Pumpkin is coming! Happy Halloween!

Oh, and here's your toy moment of zen...

Lego Minifig of the Week! #39

2011-09-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

Random Toy Pic #39

2011-09-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

I Can Has Trade?

2011-09-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hey fellow toy nerds! Going through my collection last night, I realized that I need to hunker down and get focused on completing some things (I have been getting a bit willy-nilly lately), so I thought I could come to you all once again and see if we can work out a deal!

First off, I'm trying to complete my Lego minifig collection. I have some to trade, even-steven. Take a look at my list below and maybe we can work out a deal.

HAVE TO TRADE:

Sumo Wrestler (2)
Female Snowboarder
Punk Rocker (2)
Frankenstein (2)
Baseball Player (3)
Weight Lifter
Hazmat Dude (2)
Werewolf (2)
Tennis Girl (2)
Sailor
Singing Girl
Cyborg (missing gun)
Samurai (missing helmet)

NEED:

Gladiator
Eskimo
Lumberjack
Short Clown
Egypt Lady
Pharaoh
Snowboard Guy
Zombie
Clown
Mexican Guy
Spartan
Ringmaster
Witch
Explorer Chap
Skier
Disco Guy
Indian Chief
Alien
Hip Hop Guy

If you think we can do a trade, hit me up at ackshunphigyer[at]yahoo[dot]com (that's the email I use for online wheelin' and dealin').

Now, onto my ongoing quest for vintage Kenner Star Wars figures! Despite my previous vehemence to finish off this collection, I've only gotten a few since first taking up this quest. But I thought I'd update my graphic so you can all see which ones I have (in red overlay) and again, email me at ackshunphigyer[at]yahoo[dot]com if you have any for sale, trade, or getting ready to throw out and might as well send to me instead of a landfill.

Video Blog #39

2011-09-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

LORDS OF LIGHT! It's Thundarr the Barbarian!

2011-09-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Toy collecting is a wicked mistress. She tempts us and teases us. She lifts us to exulted highs, and drags us down to the depressing lows. She guides us toward good decisions, and tricks us into making bad ones. And it was the latter that caused me to pass up today's series of action figures when I first saw them years ago in a comic shop, under the absurd belief that these would be around for years to come, to be bought on another day when other, more pressing purchases ceased to call.

How wrong I was.

Fast forward 7 years and you would find me desperately searching for a reasonably priced set of Thundarr the Barbarian action figures, only to be repelled, time and time again, by the stunningly high prices of the now rare and massively in demand figures.

But it was only a matter of time before my love for the classic Saturday morning cartoon about a ravaged planet Earth and the savage inhabitants that struggled to live there would win out and force me to pull the trigger on three of the most badass action figures ever produced. And that time...

... was about a week ago.

Yes, gang, I am now the proud owner of a full set of Thundarr the Barbarian action figures. And after being haunted for years by my decision not to buy them when I first saw them, the wait has not dimmed my desire for them and the hype that I had formed around them in my own mind has proven not to be greater than the truth. In short; these figure are friggin EPIC!

After having dropped more than my usual toy allowance on these babies, you'd think I'd be reluctant to rip them free from their brilliant packaging, with those stunning backing cards, evoking countless Saturday morning adventures in a world torn asunder. But, no! Set them free, I did, for these figures were meant to trod the soil of this Earth, facing the forces of evil with courage, strength and magic!

The figures themselves are brilliant. Simply and eloquently sculpted, like an Alex Toth design come to life. In this day and age, when many action figure lines are being pumped full of detail and paint applications, and many franchises of the past are getting "updated" for today's aging and nostalgia-afflicted collector, it's rather refreshing to see such an honest and simple representation of the fur-clad post-apocalyptic warrior and his cohorts.

The Thundarr figure comes with his famous Sun Sword, which detaches at the point where the flaming blade meets the top of the crossguard, in order to store the hilt on his left wristband via cleverly hidden magnets.

Thundarr's ever faithful Chewbacca-esque sidekick, the towering and growling Ookla the Moc stands a good head taller that the Thundarr figure (as is fitting) and comes with a bow and arrow and and extra set of hands so he can go from gripping claws to smashing fists in those often-occurring "RAWR!" moments.

The beauty of the trio, budding sorceress, Ariel (who I had a mad cartoon crush on back in the day) comes with two translucent "magical formations", a ball of orange and red energy and a swirl of blue and green power that can be very carefully balance in her hand (or in the case of the orange and red ball, stolen by your cat).

Overall, I cannot gush enough about these figures. I would have licked a running chainsaw to have Thundarr figures back when I was 10 years old, so to finally have them in my adult-nerd clutches after all these years is like a dream finally coming true (and without the power tool-inflicted tongue lacerations).

So, beware, evildoers of my toy collection. There are three new fierce warriors added to the Shelf of Epic Nostalgia who will stand for no injustice whatsoever in this land known as The Nerdatorium. May those of you who seek to enslave the weak, silence the voiceless and control the hapless masses, take stock of where your selfish actions may take you, for this land is now protected by Thundarr the Barbarian!

Lego Minifig of the Week! #38

2011-09-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Random Toy Pic #38

2011-09-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Because this figure is so jam-packed with sheer awesomeness, I had to take a couple of more shots...

(Special thanks to Jboypacman!)

Video Blog #38

2011-09-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Guardians: The Spirits of the Wild!

2011-09-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

Holy guacamole! Did I ever find the weirdest action figures on the face of the Earth! Ladies and germs, I present to you; The Guardians: The Spirits of the Wild!

I found these bizarro figures in a weird little store in Bradley, Illinois called "5 Below" which basically only sells stuff for $5 and under. It was actually a pretty cool place and my wife and I went a little crazy in there. But scoring these human/animal hybrid action figure for a whopping $2 a piece has got to be my favorite score of that day.

The figures themselves boggle my mind. They're made by a company called Wild Republic, and I have to say that their packaging is really beautiful for a $2 toy. The figures appear to be original sculpts, somewhat sloppily molded and painted (but not too bad) and come with two accessories each; a shield and a... wait for it... a flag?!

No weapons at all for these Spirits of the Wild!

At first I thought they were supposed to be some sort of Native American thing (since I saw the bald eagle character first), but that wouldn't explain the tiger and rhino.

Clearly these are a concoction from an imaginative designer at some low-rent toy company trying to do the best they can with what they have to work with and as far as I'm concerned, they nailed it. These toys, as cheap as they are, are brimming with imagination and creativity.

They all have names; Chak, Zyng, Skal and Rykor, but sadly, I opened them all up before noting which name went with each character. D'oh!

They've all go this sort of Roman gladiator vibe to them, at least that's what their armor reminds me of, except for the tiger, who's clearly sporting some samurai-inspired duds.

Another interesting feature is their individual shields (complete with "gems" in the center) and their flags which sport different symbols for each animal/man.

I only wish there had been more characters in this line. And I totally wish I would have had these as a kid! Imagine the fun I could have had by adding these Dr. Moreau-ian warriors to my AD&D/Dragonriders of the Styx adventures!

I told you, it boggles the mind.

Lego Minifig of the Week! #37

2011-09-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

Random Toy Pic #37

2011-09-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

(click to activate "bigify" ray)