Your Daily Dose of Toys from Adam Pawlus http://www.16bit.com/fotd Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:00 -0600 Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:00 -0600 I didn't get a Thunder Punch He-Man as a kid, but I do remember picking one out to take to someone's birthday party, only to have another kid also get him the same figure, which he opened before mine, and then I got irritated that he got stuck with two of them. That's how I work, but today? I've got one of my own! I actually wasn't expecting this figure to get made in MOTUC, and when it was announced I honestly just kind of shrugged. But it's cool! The figure as shown at Toy Fair seems like he was a little pale, and had slightly yellower accessories than the final figure. But I'm really having fun with the final figure, I think he's going to make this column better. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120517-motuc-thunder-punch-he-man.asp Thu, 17 May 2012 06:00:00 -0600 It's amazing to think that Raph, the Space Cadet was, at one point, something genuinely fresh. For the first couple of years, Playmates kept the turtles in their more-or-less classic costumes. And then they realized they could be cowboys, rock stars, or just about anything, which would allow them to sell more of the four main turtles because, oddly, that's what kids tend to gravitate toward. One of my neighbor's kids, in the 1990s, had about a dozen turtles but had no interest in any of the other characters in the line for whatever reason. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120516-tmnt-raph-space-cadet.asp Wed, 16 May 2012 06:00:00 -0600 In the 1990s, a number of companies had (or attempted to launch) the Looney Tunes license as action figures. Even Kenner had a bunch of prototypes floating around, so by the time Marvin the Martian actually got made I was pretty much ready to buy. Remember, this was the era of Warner Bros. Studio Stores, Space Jam, and the still-constantish repeats of classic Warner animated shorts on cable, so a line like this was actually pretty exciting. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120515-looney-tunes-marvin-martian.asp Tue, 15 May 2012 06:00:00 -0600 One of the early figures I remember feeling like I really had to work to get it was Clayface. He was huge, hard-to-get, and quite distinctive in that he was released around the time where Kenner really seemed to believe (mostly accurately) that villains should be 1 or 2 in a box of 16 to 24 action figures. It was frustrating, to say the least, but there were some really nice figures churned out during what were essentially the earliest days of what would become the DC Animated Universe. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120514-btas-clayface.asp Mon, 14 May 2012 06:00:00 -0600 The Mantis Alien was a thing I originally didn't intend on buying until I saw it had an on-pack mail-in offer for an "Ambush Predator," and any kid can tell you mail-in figures are exciting stuff. What could be better than getting an exclusive action figure for "free?" Not much. It didn't matter that this figure had the same torso and gimmick as a toy I already owned-- I wanted that Predator, and I liked things that were green. So buying this wasn't much of a hassle. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120511-mantis-aliens-aliens.asp Fri, 11 May 2012 06:00:00 -0600 The D.I.N.O. Mites line didn't exactly go out of its way to be authentic. One of the little guys has a caveman, and as of when I write this I just got a big box of these off eBay in varying stages of decay and the designs are just bizarre. I'm beginning to wonder if I skipped a bunch of these on purposes as a kid, because while I love this little Ichthyosaurus today, I also dug it as a kid. A dinosaur that's also like a fish or a dolphin? Cool! http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120510-dino-mites-27-ichthyosaurus.asp Thu, 10 May 2012 06:00:00 -1000 Last week we looked at the clear red release, but this week I'm looking at Grey Vorin. This figure was distributed to retailers at an event at C2E2 (or so I've heard) so it's possible your local comic shop might have one to sell you. It's pretty much the same as the red one in terms of functionality, but the plastic feels a little stiffer and it does something particularly amazing in that it proves how much better a figure which is painted a single color can look compared to one which is molded in that color. In my other hundreds of toy reviews, I've noticed that a painted face often looks better than a molded face, and Vorin is no exception. The way light bounces off paint, in this case, changes a figure from pretty dang good to borderline spectacular. The candylike red figure looks nice-- don't get me wrong-- but the grey figure looks like it was painted in primer to use as a pitch sample of some sort, which I suppose it kind of is. When I have this figure in my hands, I can pretty much tell without a doubt that this line is going to be beautiful. Even with just one color (the figure is partially white plastic painted grey), the detail pops in all sorts of places. The red one is fun to play with, sure, but the grey one helps you to see all the sculpted fur, the knife on the back, and every teeny little bit of work that went into this figure. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120509-battle-beasts-c2e2-grey-vorin.asp Wed, 09 May 2012 09:00:00 -0900 When I was at Toy Fair this year, I was looking forward to seeing some finished, not-prototype Bot Shots in person and had already been searching stores for early leaked samples to get one or two. As luck would have it Hasbro had a bin of free Optimus Prime figures from the line, effectively identical as the basic $5 or so release except for a couple of stickers. See below, but all that's different is a sticker burst and a "NOT FOR RESALE" label over the barcode. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120508-transformers-bot-shots-toy-fair-optimus-prime.asp Tue, 08 May 2012 08:00:00 -0800 If you don't have any of these yet, Callgrim The Order Triton is worth a look-- heck, they all are pretty good, and the one mold has so many configurations and colors that I'd say it's worth grabbing a couple if you're already on board with the Cult of Glyos. There's a story which plays out on the Callgrim web pages, but if someone just hands you a figure all you have to go from is a nifty toy with a trading card. The rest is pretty much up to you. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120507-glyos-callgrim-the-order-triton.asp Mon, 07 May 2012 07:00:00 -0700 I have no idea who REALLY made these StarCraft figures, but the Zerg Hydralisk and a couple of others (plus some Diablo and Warcraft guys) were cranked out supposedly by Blizzard in 1998. You just waltzed into Software Etc. or Electronics Boutique, and there you were-- weird figures from someone you've never expected. Since then we've seen them from DC Direct and other licensors, and Panache Place had a booth at Toy Fair 2012 saying to expect more, but this was the very first (and for a while, only) Zerg toy you could get. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120504-starcraft-zerg-hydralisk.asp Fri, 04 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400 When Diamond Select announced their plan to revive the Battle Beasts brand this year, that was my cue to jump on the vintage guys before things blew up in a big way later in the year. Anarchy was one of the few Laser Beasts I picked up as he wasn't too pricey, and was about as cool as another mole in this series. With a drill arm and a drill weapon, thematically, he's pretty awesome as a construction/destruction/explorer type. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120503-battle-beasts-80-shadow-warriors-anarchy.asp Thu, 03 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400 In the 1980s, there was a Battle Beasts figure named "Bighorn Sheep." And today? This new fellow's monniker is Vorin! The sculpt is a hybrid of a traditional Minimates figure and a typical action figure. You get a classic Minimate torso with Minimate arms and Minimate thighs. From the knees on down the legs are new, the hands and gauntlets cover the Minimates arms, two new armor pieces cover the upper and lower torso, and the classic Minimates head-wearing-a-hat of the Alligator design has been replaced by a less-bulky single molded head which pops right on the neck peg. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120502-battle-beasts-c2e2-red-vorin.asp Wed, 02 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400 One of the great things about the various LEGO fantasy-based minifigures is that if you squint hard enough, they almost feel like they would be right at home in early Final Fantasy games. You know, before things like creative costuming came into play. This Evil Dwarf is similar to other dwarves from previous sets, except-- you guessed it-- he's evil. If there weren't already Hobbit sets in the works, I'm sure these would be bought and repurposed en masse as the various heroes from that series. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120501-lego-8805-dwarf.asp Tue, 01 May 2012 04:00:00 -0400 The smallest member of the Outer Space Men, Alpha 7 also has the distinction of being one of few figures in the line whose appearance taps in to an existing cultural portrait of life on Mars, specifically "little green men." The painted version of the figure looks like he stepped right out of the earlier part of our time exploring space, before we had a better handle on what was (or sadly wasn't) out there. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120430-osm-infinity-alpha-7.asp Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Confession time: this is the first Micromasters car I got that wasn't part of a combiner. I had a couple of playsets with jets, and Overload, but never a car until I picked up Big Daddy at local collectible toy shop Toy Anxiety for five bucks recently. And do you know what? I now wish I had more Micromasters. (Big surprise, I know.) I'll be whipping my Overload and bases out of my toy box(es) to see how a car works with them. It's pretty backward, but hey, after hauling them around for 20-some years I figured I may as well buy the cars meant to be used with them for a change. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120427-transformers-g1-big-daddy.asp Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 If there's one thing you can say about Mattel, it's that they understand the concept of destiny. Fearless Photog shouldn't exist, but here he is-- designed in the 1980s by a kid in a contest, the design was largely forgotten until the meat grinder of the internet's pop culture sites got wind of the story and said to everybody "Hey, remember this? Mattel never did anything with it." Much like how Mattel has aimed to eclipse the original 1980s Kenner Super Powers line, today, they're aiming to make some of the weirder concepts from Masters of the Universe and fill the gaps as they go. It's not every day that a lost legend of the 1980s toy scene gets produced and can now hang out on top of your 200X Castle Grayskull playset. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120426-motuc-fearless-photog.asp Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Behold, Draego-Man! As the first and so far only villain in the 30th Anniversary 6-figure sub-line, he's gotta be good. I mean, the heroes seem to be drawing a lot of criticism, so a bad guy, designed by the Four Horsemen, is sort of like toy collector catnip. If you don't get high off this new figure smell, you're missing out, man. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120425-motuc-draego-man.asp Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Everybody's favorite character on Parks and Recreation is most likely Ron Swanson, and the NBC store sells a bobble head of the character. I don't know if Nick Offerman knows this exists, but if he does, I hope he likes it. It's a heavy resin bobble head, so it's not quite as durable as the Funko items, but it does have a lot of sculpted detail and at $20, it's certainly heavy enough to feel that you're getting your money's worth. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120424-parks-recreation-ron-swanson.asp Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 While at Toy Fair in New York, I had a few dinners with vendors and let me tell you: when you live in the basement and work with toys all day and have no kids, there aren't a lot of wonderful tales to tell. So I steered the conversation toward the things I do, and the likes of Red Beard came up. After a few drinks, a table of toy industry people will not believe you when you tell them "so yeah, the wife and I picked up some electronic tarantula toys dressed up as Mexican wrestlers" to the point where they will inevitably demand proof. And proof they shall have. This particular model was a later purchase and a pain to get, but check him out: he's got a hook for a hand! It's non-removable, but it's awesome. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120423-tarantula-planet-red-beard.asp Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 My second-ever Robostrux kit was Slithor, because a giant robot snail was awesome. Sold in Japan as "Malder," this snail was a really simple kit to put together and has a really cool wind-up mechanism. And, frankly, more cool moving parts than just about any other kit in its size class. When you wind it up, the head extends and the wheels roll, letting the shell catch up to it. And repeat. It's simple, but neat. While it moves, a cannon on its right-hand side will swivel up an down, aiming at evil (or good) where ever it may be. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120420-robostrux-slithor.asp Fri, 20 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Very few figures of Ripley were made that look like Sigourney Weaver, supposedly due to her not licensing her likeness to toys from this franchise (or so is the story). This one is a tiny, 3-inch scale die-cast metal figure so there's very little room for detail, particularly in the 1990s when you were lucky if the hair didn't match the eyebrows and eyes. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120419-aliens-action-masters-ripley.asp Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 After King Grayskull, the first figure from this line I actually opened was Webstor. (Long story.) He's a bit of an odd figure, as he's packaged more or less topless and you actually have to dress him yourself. As characters go he's pretty non-essential, but as figures go he's a highlight in the line. While Mer-Man and Skeletor are my go-to bad guy figures when it comes to Eternia, Webstor is surprisingly impressive for a spider character that didn't make as big of a splash as he should have. Oh, and he was reissued last month, finally. (This is from the original release, hence, no packaging.) http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120418-motuc-webstor.asp Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 My favorite overall design in this wave of Outer Space Men is probably Electron+. The execution, not so much-- the poor fellow can't sit down to to a chest piece hanging over his leg joints, so he's forced to stand for all eternity. Since his packaging mentions his race is made of energy and can return to that state at will, I'm assuming that means he probably won't be too uncomfortable hanging out on my shelf between now and the time I drop dead at 48, shortly after being featured on Hoarders. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120417-osm-infinity-electron.asp Tue, 17 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 I immediately thought that the Lumberjack was some sort of Monty Python reference, and when I say his motto "I'm okay!" it was pretty obvious that the people making these figures are probably the same kind of people writing and reading columns about these figures. He looks like he might also be in the paper towel business. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120416-lego-8805-lumberjack.asp Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 One of the most fascinating things about toy lines in the 1980s and 1990s is as they wind down, nobody really knew what was going on at the time. The final series of Star Wars, Battle Beasts, and other lines were tough to tell because with no real marketing support, no internet, and no resources, rumors and "my cousin got this somehow" were our main sources of intel. As such, I have vague memories of the final US series called "Shadow Warriors" (Laser Beasts in Japan) and I didn't really have much of awareness of the line (beyond it existing) until recently. Heck, I didn't even intend on getting Spark Shark until he showed up in a collection with a bunch of rubsign figures I was after. By himself, he sells for $15-$20 (no weapon) and $30-$35 (with weapon), and he's probably the cheapest and seemingly most commonly sold Laser Beasts figure. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120413-battle-beasts-78-shadow-warriors-spark-shark.asp Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Series 3 of Battle Beasts was thought by many (myself included) to be the end of the line-- additional "Shadow Beasts" and "Laser Beasts" were issued in very limited numbers in the USA and later Japan, but it seemed to my not-old-enough-to-go-on-a-toy-run-self that Diving Duckbill and friends were the end of the line at the time. The sets were increased from randomly-packed pairs to a specific group of 8 figures, which was more exciting from a gift standpoint but slightly less so if you had to basically whine like a little bitch to convince your parents that yes, you should be able to take the ten bucks your aunt sent you to get yet another batch of these little guys. (This set was particularly awesome, containing a Zebra, Penguin, Flamingo, and Orangutan among others.) http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120412-battle-beasts-71-diving-duckbill.asp Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Series 2 of Battle Beasts refined the figures a little bit with better paint jobs, stranger figure choices, and big changes to their feet. The copyright information was moved to the soles of the figures, and a foot peg hole was added-- previously released Series 1 figures had flat feet (like Gormiti toys) and the copyright information was usually on their backs. Wolfgang Walrus is a fine example of a good concept refined in its second series, and he also just happens to look more than a little like the Transformers toy Longtooth. As I'm a sucker for ocean life toys, this was one of the many figures I requested as a kid and by gum I've still got him. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120411-battle-beasts-37-wolfgang-walrus.asp Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 I've been writing about Gormiti which reminded me of Battle Beasts... so why not look at the real thing? This figure, and the next two, are all some of my childhood toys. I really dug these, they were lots of fun and have been with me for a very long time. And late last year I decided I needed to get the rest of 'em, so yeah, stay tuned to read lots more about Battle Beasts over the coming months. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120410-battle-beasts-20-sawtooth-shark.asp Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Welcome to Beast Week 2012! Last year we focused on Beast Wars Fuzors, and this year it's Battle Beasts! We're counting down to the C2E2 show in Chicago, where Diamond Select promises news on the long-gestating revival of this classic figure brand. So let's get started with the latest figure to be sold in stores with the brand name, with the Battle Beasts Red Alligator Warrior. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120409-minimates-battle-beasts-case-red.asp Mon, 09 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 The G.I. Joe Heavy Gunner figure has no actual name, so let me describe what it's made of-- the head is based on Duke and the body is a Roadblock from G.I. Joe Resolute, except white. His left arm and the side of his face are inked in tattoos, giving the figure a quasi-menacing look. It's not like he's inked with "JP4LIFE" or the face of Jeff Goldblum, so obviously, I do not understand the body art's significance. He wears gloves, has brown pants, and sports a swell green vest which reads "JP" on one side and "InGen" on the other. He has a belt under his vest which is unpainted, so the figure actually looks pretty stupid if you take it off. Oddly, the 4 1/3-inch figure has no copyright markings so he's sure to confound future generations of toy collectors who don't recognize the style. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120406-g.i.-joe-jurassic-park.asp Fri, 06 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Some of these reviews get banked a ways in advance, but it took me a while to get to even opening Leech due to my sitting on a bunch of figures during a pre-move time and getting to them much, much later. You probably already knew this was a questionable figure, but let me confirm it: you probably don't need this one. By and large I'm a big fan of the line as a whole, but this one had some real problems out of the box: the crossbow was ridiculously bent out of shape (but was repairable), the net accessory was ripped before I even opened it (not fixable), and there are some real paint issues. There's some great paint on here, and there's some real slop-- so I have to give them points for ambition while taking them back for big unpainted areas on his fangs. The developers did a nice job, but the manufacturing and packaging process resulted in-- at least on my sample-- something I'd almost rather not even own. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120405-motuc-leech.asp Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 One of the most exciting things in Masters of the Universe Classics is how they make new characters while updating older ones. I'm still waiting for Ram Man and Mekaneck, but I'm OK with that because Mattel started to dip into its rich trove of concept art. Demo-Man is a new demon character, a forerunner to Skeletor. His backstory is that he's this demon who basically got merged with Keldor to create Skeletor, but he's also a concept sketch which predates everybody's favorite 1980s toyline villain by just a bit. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120404-motuc-demo-man.asp Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 In the 1980, there were no such thing as video game action figures. We got PVCs, small articulation-free figures of varying quality. This Link PVC figure (marked 1989 NOA Applause Made in China, for searchiness) is a small plastic figure based on the character's artwork from the time of the second game in the series. That's how you know I'm old-- I remember when there was only one game in the Zelda series, and how radical it was to see the change in design. Before he was a short, young, elf-like boy adventurer. Later, he grew up, was taller, and was more like Jughead in appearance with a thinner build and a much longer nose. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120403-zelda-ii-link-applause-pvc.asp Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 I have to assume Lizard Man exists solely to do battle with Gorilla Suit Man. While the Gorilla was more of a dude in a suit-- he's sweaty, and he has a zipper on his back-- the Lizard Man is the more fun figure. Heck, the design reminds me slightly of Reptar, a Godzilla stand-in on the Rugrats cartoons. The human figure looks through the lizard suit's gaping maw, so you can make out his determined (and not sweating) face from the inside. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120402-lego-8805-godzilla-lizard-man.asp Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:00:00 -0400 As a kid, the bulk of my interaction with Transformers was through smaller toys like Seaspray. As such, Transformers and Go-Bots were fundamentally similar-- both were small, simple, and had larger toys that I wasn't able to touch. The nice thing about this is that you, the lucky collector, may be able to buy a loose vintage Seaspray for $3-$8, which is quite the bargain considering inflation. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120330-transformers-g1-seaspray.asp Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 The first Jurassic Park figure I picked up was Ellie Sattler. Not because I thought she was particularly fantastic or hot or anything, but I decided I was going to have a fat Triceratops hatchling toy and this was the way to get it. Sidekick mini-figures are sort of a rare thing lately, but it was a great cheap way to increase sales-- people would buy a larger figure if the mini ghost, dinosaur, monster, facehugger alien, or mutant included in the package happened to be appealing enough. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120329-ellie-sattler-jurassic-park.asp Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 A common misconception about Vasquez and her cohorts O'Malley and Hudson was that they were exclusive to the UK. Not true! The red-shirted version of the figure was actually distributed in multiple countries-- US-style packaging (all English with a square bubble) was distributed in France, Hong Kong, and Australia according to Tomart's Action Figure Digest. This sample came from Hong Kong as I had a friend there in high school, in the days before eBay, where finding out your best bud from elementary school could get you toys nobody else at the toy shows ever saw. It was a huge, exciting deal-- and yes, it was US-style packaging. Kenner actually confirmed to Tomart's that the production run was about 30,000 pieces, which seems to be close to the baseline for a lot of products out of Hasbro according to many of my sources. A six-language version of the packaging was distributed in the UK with a trading card and a bubble which was form-fitted to the figure, much like the ALIENS Hive Wars and Congo lines. Vasquez wouldn't come out to the USA until about 1997, where she was repainted for a Kay-Bee exclusive line of ALIENS vs. Marines to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the ALIENS films. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120328-vasquez-aliens-space-marine.asp Wed, 28 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Some things are sacred-- my Robostrux toys probably received better treatment than anything I had as a kid, and I took good care of my stuff. Brutox was the third (and for a couple of decades, final) kit I received in the line, and it was a hum-dinger. The battery-powered Styracosaurus was sold in the USA initially in this blue color, complete with Zenebas logo, but here's the weird thing: the Robostrux line ignored the Helic and Zenebas faction logos. (Think Autobots and Decepticons.) They just randomly reassigned characters to the Red Mutants or Blue Guardians, and Brutox was a Blue Guardian. Because he's blue. In Japan (and much later in the USA), this toy was sold as Red Horn in red and various other colors. (Dark Horn and Red Horn both bowed in the USA around 2002.) http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120327-robostrux-brutox-blue-red-horn.asp Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 If you live in Germany, you can order Albrecht Durer from the Nuremberg Tourism people for about four bucks and change. If you live in the USA? Tough. eBay. Playmobil figures of specific real-world people are pretty uncommon, save for a few ancient figures like Cleopatra and persons relating to various aspects of Christmas. There's no Abraham Lincoln or anything. There are some saints, sure, but generally you're dealing with fairly generic representations of real-world peoples or licensed characters that are similar (but not specific) to the genuine article, as seen in the blind-bagged "Figures" line. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120326-playmobil-6107-durer.asp Mon, 26 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Go Team Venture! Hank Venture came out in the second batch of figures, but as one of the main characters is totally essential. As the only action figure of the character released thus far, I'll just say go ahead and get one. The figure's skin tone is way better than Dean Venture's pale face, which is unfortunately highlighted when you stand them both next to one another. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120323-venture-bros-hank-venture.asp Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 I wasn't quite expecting Commander Comet, the Man from Venus to be the token clear red figure in Galactic Holiday 2011-- I was actually expecting it to be the man from the red planet, for obvious reasons. Commander Comet looks really good in red, but obviously a little devilish with his glowing eyes and firey skin. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120322-commander-comet-galactic-holiday-outer-space-men.asp Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 I originally had Fearless Photog slotted in here, but because my Shadow Weaver showed up late I decided to bump him back a few weeks. (I work ahead.) Why am I doing this? So you can either decide that Shadow Weaver is worth overpaying for, or do what I suggest: start watching lots of eBay auctions, and get yours when there's a slight dip in the market. A quick glance on eBay says the lowest she's selling for is about $66 shipped in the USA, but goes as high as $150. She's not worth $150. I don't even know that she's worth $60, but I won't lie to you when it comes to hyping this figure because I didn't even know what a Shadow Weaver was until I caught reruns of She-Ra on the Qubo channel about a year and a half ago. "Oh cool," I thought, "evil Orko with boobs. Wonder why they didn't make a figure of her?" http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120321-motuc-shadow-weaver.asp Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 If you need a reason to enjoy not voting for Mitt Romney, it might be that his company presided over the slow-bleed death of the once-healthy Kay-Bee Toys, a company which helped a lot of "lost" toys to come to market as exclusives as lines winded down. I found tons of great stuff there over the years and this Acid Alien was particularly exciting, as I remember hearing about this mold for quite some time before it actually made it to market. And when it did? They made it in two colors, this dark red-tinted one plus a blue-tinted Hive Warrior Alien. Because it looked a heck of a lot like the Alien3 creature, I took my bicycle to Kay-Bee toys and bought this one. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120320-hive-wars-acid-alien.asp Tue, 20 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 While it took me a long time to remember the name, I realize now that this Pilot LEGO Minifigure reminds me of Commander McBragg, from the old cartoon segments. "Good Heavens! What did you do?" (You know the guy.) The LEGO.com bio for the character seems to be on track to match him, as this is an older guy with big white eyebrows and a moustache to match. I approve. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120319-lego-8803-pilot-adventurer.asp Mon, 19 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Distribution woes are ingrained in action figure collecting, I remember paying a premium on The Maxx back in 1996 because-- say it with me-- he was really hard to find. The figure came with black or white Isz bendable figures, and later McFarlane's toy club would sell you a sack of the dang things if you wanted them. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120316-mcfarlane-maxx.asp Fri, 16 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 The 1990s were an amazing time to be alive if you liked toys, because it was when things really changed in a big way-- you had the innovation of the 1980s slowly running out, while the nostalgia-fueled 2000s were being foreshadowed. Were these toys for kids or adults? It was tough to tell, especially when Kenner put out Action Masters. The Predator was one of several figures in the line, which spanned films like Terminator 2, ALIENS, and of course, Star Wars. This 2 1/2-inch tall collectible figure comprised the entire Predator range for Action Masters, so he'd need some Xenomorphs to fight. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120315-action-masters-predator.asp Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 One of my favorite things about Masters of the Universe Classics is how they plunge the archives to find weird vintage 1980s designs they never used. Like Battle Cat and Panthor, Gygor was originally conceived as a modified toy from the Big Jim line, which like Max Steel modern toy collectors neither know nor care about. (Larger-scale action figures are things most children of the 1980s ignored.) Anyway, a gorilla from that line was painted yellow, given a red cape, and handed some Darth Vader armor to make this character which, in 2010, was released as Gygor. It's really friggin' big, his gauntlets, helmet, and vambraces are separate pieces, and looks like a delightful otherworldly mutant with green skin and yellow fur. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120314-motuc-gygor.asp Wed, 14 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 It may not be obvious, but Mike, the Sewer Surfer was something of a milestone in the toy world. He, along with an Undercover Donatello, Samurai Leonardo, and Space Suit Raphael, made up the first turtles to be released in new and unusual outfits. Before this, they were just based on the normal character models without any wacky shirts or helmets. This one was pure late 1980s/early 1990s insanity, incorporating surfer culture, an environmental motif, and of course, unnecessary sunglasses. I'm not sure if I'm here to celebrate this figure as a 4-inch plastic time capsule, or to mock it. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120313-tmnt-mike-sewer-surfer.asp Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400 Before his release, Mattel asked fans if they wanted this new 2011 Man-E-Faces in orange (like the original figure), flesh (like the concept art), or somewhere in between. They went with the latter, and depending on your level of hard-core-ness you might not have really given it much thought. While the 1980s and 2000s figure was orange, that never really dawned on me as I was opening this new guy up. He looks great, and while the increasingly ubiquitous "orange tan" storms the media, it doesn't seem out of the question that it might catch on in Eternia, too. http://www.16bit.com/fotd/120312-motuc-man-e-faces.asp Mon, 12 Mar 2012 04:00:00 -0400