A Small Solider Is Saluting You.

Donald Levine passed away at the age of 86. You may not know the man but you probably know what he helped create. G.I. Joe, the the first Action Figure, NOT Doll, Action Figure. Now I never really played with the original, it was before my time. When ever I came across an original Joe or similar generation Action Figure like Steve Austin figure, I though it was a relative of Ken and Barbies. But second generation Joe, and his predecessors. I have fond memories of G.I. Joe, the vehicles, the accessories. I don't know if it's my first toy, buy it's one of the first I remember, that and Superman from the superpowers line and Luke on Endor from the Star Wars line.

For more info check out ABC News or CBC News

Having Another ReAction

They have released 60 more ReAction figures, in the new Reaction line.

The Compleat List is:

Back to the Future

    Marty McFly
    Doc Brown
    George McFly
    Biff Tannen

The Rocketeer

    The Rocketeer

Firefly

    Malcolm Reynolds
    Zoe Washburne
    Hoban Washburne
    Jayne Cobb
    Kaylee Frye

Predator

    Masked Predator
    Open mouth Predator
    Closed mouth Predator
    Invisible Predator

Goonies

    Sloth
    Mikey
    Mouth
    Chunk
    Data

Terminator

    Sarah Connor
    Kyle Reese
    Tech Noir Terminator
    Leather Jacket Terminator
    T-800

Escape from New York

    Snake Plissken
    Snake Plissken with jacket

The Crow

    The Crow

Universal Monsters

    Creature from the Black Lagoon
    Invisible Man
    Phantom of the Opera
    Dracula
    Bride of Frankenstein
    Frankenstein
    Mummy
    Wolfman

Modern Horror

    Freddy Krueger
    Jason Voorhees
    Michael Myers
    Pinhead
    Ghostface
    Trick’R’Treat Sam

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

    Buffy
    Oz
    Spike
    Willow
    Gentleman
    Angel

Pulp Fiction

    Jules Winnfield
    Vincent Vega
    Mia Wallace
    Jimmie Dimmick
    The Gimp
    Butch Coolidge
    The Wolf
    Marsellus Wallace

Nightmare Before Christmas

    Jack Skellington
    Sally
    Mayor
    Behemoth
    Devil
    Barrel

There are so many I WANT, well first there is the Back To The Future set. Predator would be a good second choice to go with my Aliens set. And of course Rocketeer.
And the price for each one in the new line is 9.99, from 15 of the Aliens line!

It's like some one invented a time machine!

Artwo For Me Two!

I've all way's wanted Artwo Detwo, or R2D2, ever since I saw the Star Wars films. Now I will one day build my own R2, but untill then this new toy by Side Show. It's a super detailed sixth scale figure.

This 1/6 scale figure looks like it has every thing. You need a little magnet tiped thing to open the compartments. I belive it's actually the light saber that Artwo stowes away, that has the magnet on the end, very clever.

WARNING THIS VIDEO MAY CAUSE UNCONTROLLABLE PURCHASE!

This toy appeases to come with every thing but the rockets from the prequel. It does light up which just pushes this thing over the top. This is the droid I am looking for! Sorry could not resist!

 You could consider this Artwo's baby photo, concept art. Basically a trash can with a arm.

I am definitly adding this to my must have list, but I'm still holding out for a full size "Working" version of Artwo, in fact I plan to have my own little army of Droids and Robots, so you'll know who to blame for the Robopocalypse.

So go grap your very own R2-D2 RAH 1:6 Action Figure. It is in prime condition a real bargin!

Muppet, Baby!

I recently saw The Muppet’s Most Wanted. It is an excellent film, I especially enjoyed the musical numbers. After seeing the film It got me thinking back to the days of McDonald’s toys, (and to a lesser extent Burger King, and the odd other fast food joint). McD toys were a phenomenon in them selves. You eagerly awaited the announcement of the latest batch of toys, then you went to MD every week, sometimes just to buy the toy. It always felt weird walking in and buying a toy and not a burger, but it didn't happen often. Well the Muppet Baby line must of been my favourite. Something about the way they felt, the design, the figure / vehicle combo. I had multiple copies of the set, and played with them often. There was a animated TV show based on the Muppet Baby’s as well, and I have fond memories, even though it was not my favourite at the time, just one I always watched. I don't know if it's because I'm older but the MD toys seem to have lost their appeal. I get them from time to time buy they seem to be watered down versions of what you can get at the store. In the olden days even the cheap Happy Meal Toys were only available at MD's

This is a picture of the Canadian set which included Animal. The rest of the world got Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, and Gonzo. This set came out in 1987.
There was a later set, and under 3 figures, but the above is cemented in my mind!

SuperCar Or SuperToy

The Traxxas XO-1 is truly a Super Car, but you probably guessed that it's not a normal car. You are on a Toy Blog after all, not Car and Driver - although they did review this item. But this is no normal toy. First of it's a RC - Radio Controlled for those not in the the "Life Style". But it's a One Hundred Mile Per Hour RC!

First off anything that goes 100 mph is insane, second IT'S BASICALLY A TOY TAT GOES 100 MPH! Now it's almost $1,000.00 so you probably wont buy this "Toy" for your kid, and you are almost guaranteed to break it at some point if your having any fun at all. I'd love one of these one day, but only when I join the more money than brains club. Just seeing this thing makes me want to get into RC more, I mean what other cool thing can these RC creations do? If you have a taste for speed and not asphalt, and still want to get a supercar, this thing is the closest most of us will ever get.

So if you want a severed wheel along with a thanks for all the fun letter, get me one of these!

MASK The Number One Action Toy of my past!

MASK or M.A.S.K. stands for MOBILE ARMORED STRIKE KOMMAND. Acronyms were big in the 80's. This toy line had it all, the sets came with a figure and a vehicle and a Mask accessories!, Each vehicle could transform into something else. There were comics, and a TV show. My first memory's were of the toys, I was so young I did not know what they were, I just knew they were cool. Then I saw the cartoon, and fell in love, got the toy catalog and had to get the ones I did not have. They were a Mosaic of all the cool features of all the hit toys of the era. Action Figures, Vehicles, Transforming Vehicles, vehicles that had guns, super powers (The Mask's gave the wearers powers.), cool cartoon, cool comic books, it had it all.
Below I show the the First Wave, or Series 1






Boulder Hill

This was MASK's head quarters, the jewel of the set.












Condor

One of my favorites just because of the simplicity. The rotor arms pivoted up which lower the landing gear at the same time, the rotors folded out, the back wheel folded up!



Firecracker

Not a stand out but very cool!



Gator

Boat mode was much cooler than the jeep mode!



Jackhamer

The second coolest bad guy vehicle, the bad guys were call V.E.N.O.M., again, acronyms were big in the 80's.



Piranha

The coolest bad guy vehicle, I know it's a sub but don't take in water, the internal springs will rust. I know from first hand experience! This was soo cool, it was a motorcycle and side car plus a sub, an attack sub. Two of the coolest vehicles combined!



Rhino

This is tied for the coolest good guy vehicle, very cool very assome! It's like a vehicle and a battle station.



Swtchblade

A very nice bad guy vehicle, actually practical today, and is driven by the bad guy leader!



T-Bob

This is the ARTwo every boy would want! an action figure and a vehicle!



Thunder Hawk

This is the second vehicle in the tie for coolest good guy vehicle. If the good guy leader was not driving it it would have come in second. When I got this I went through the roof,

Alien ReAction

 There is a new Figure on the market, we it's an old figure, just New to the Market.
Based on 1979 prototypes which were never manufactured. . . Until Now!
As soon as I saw them I had to have them. My brother picked me up Kane, I'm also going to get the "ALIEN". Those two will be opened, I'm also planing to get the complete set MIB (For those of you who don't know that's collector lingo for Mint In Box) and it will stay MIB! I'd like to get the pail blue version of the Alien as well. Just for the prototype "look". Later on I'll try to get some of the Toy Fair Exclusives, not too hard to find, but expensive.
Now These figures are literally retro so, five points of articulations, bad sculpts, by today's standards. So what's the appeal? It's sort of like discovering an old toy you forgot about, but better than that. You can make new memories. It's like never hearing of star wars action figures until you were an adult. And sure modern toys are better in some ways, but retro action figure have all there own magic. A Reminder of a bygone time that will never be again, an because a lot of us have a part of us from that time. It holds a special place in our hearts. Now I've been working on a Time Machine for years, but until it's done I think this will be the closest many of us will get. We can play with these figures and imagine our self in a past that could have been.