While taking a look at something for my mom down in the basement,I stumbled across this figure sitting on the ledge of one of the windows!He was pretty dusty and full of cobwebs so I cleaned him off a bit and decided to bring em’ home.I’m not sure what I want to do with him yet seeing as how this is the first and only McDonalds toy to make it into my collection. Maybe I can snag up a “Rise of the Guardians” McDonalds figure to join Shrek here on the old toy shelf.
“$4.00 for a comic book?!?You gotta be out of your mind!”Those were the words I so adamantly uttered as i looked at the cover price of a recently released T.M.N.T comic book at a local supermarket.This wasn’t even a double sized issue or anything,it was just your run of the mill 17-20 page comic book.Shocked as i was i started turning the rotatable rack to see if i could find anything in the dollar range LOL, clearly my “80’s state of mind” had reared it’s ugly head again,impairing any and all ability to fathom the monetary value of a comic book in the year 2,012.My Spidey Sense(or was it my girlfriend) told me to drop the book and walk away slowly.Which kind of sucks because i was really ready to give comic book collecting another try, but that notion my friends quickly fell by the wayside. The same goes for action figures..i’m not mentioning any..ahem “Marvel Universe” …names or anything ,sports cards and when did 60 dollars become the norm for a video game?Holy Stromboli 😮 Now i know the price of these items today are relative to the day and age we live in and 20 years from now comics will probably jump to 8 bucks an issue and the price of 3 3/4 action figures will sky rocket 😦 ,but one can still sit back and reminisce about the good ol’ days when a pocket full of change got you an awesome Marvel mag or a wax pack of baseball cards(with gum to boot). I remember mowing a lawn or shoveling someones drive way and making enough money to go out and buy 2-3 ridiculously awesome G.I. Joe or Marvel Secret Wars figures!Those were the days 😉
I read somewhere how the original 1980’s Zartan had such a flawless design that any other rendition or reincarnation of him would be doing his character a great disservice.I can agree with that to some extent but i also believe that you can re create and modernize a character without straying too far from it’s original design.While the ROC version of Zartan looks nothing like the cartoon or comic book versions,it gives you a glimpse of what Zartan may have looked like before taking on his more iconic 80’s look.Then we have this version of him. The POC version of Zartan does a good job of blending in a little bit of the old school with his signature face paint and hoodie while adding in extras like a pet Falcon and alternate weapons .Staying true to the original,Zartan comes with a disguise, an alternate vest and head which can be switched out if ever you wanted to display him in stealth mode.I only wish they would have given him the ability to change color like the 80’s version did,but other than that this is a pretty good rendition of Zartan. IMO the POC line of Joes were a darn near perfect action figure as far as character design and quality went and even the packaging looked great. I’ll continue to hunt down more from this line in the future.
G.I. Joe POC Zartan
I like the R.O.C. movie version of Cobra Commander action figure.There i said it.I confess.In the past there has been so much hating on this figure and truthfully i can understand why.He looks nothing like the Cobra Commander we’ve all grown to love over the course of our child, and for some, adult hood.Some have complained about the trench coat and others about the wing tip shoes.I,on the other hand,don’t have a problem with any of these things. To me this version of C.C. gives him the appearance of a boss. The guy behind the scenes who pushes buttons and calls the shots while making the occasional appearance on national television to brief the public on his latest evil doings,and i think ROC C.C. is appropriately dressed for this part.I also dig the fact that his mask is translucent,making his disfigured face partly visible.All in all a pretty good rendition of Cobra Commander IMO.
G.I. Joe R.O.C. Cobra Commander
By now everyone pretty much knows how much of an 80’s toy fanatic i am,but there is another decade of phenomenal action figures which i am discreetly fond of and that decade is none other than the 1990’s!Now..by the time 1990 rolled around i was already passed the stage of collecting and playing with toys but that didn’t mean that i was completely out of the loop.At that time my nephews had started collecting, becoming enveloped in there own action figure bliss while i vicariously prolonged my affinity for toys through them.Pretty sad huh LOL!So come Christmas around that time all of my presents were more of the mature variety like walk men,hand held electronics and clothes while my nephews got all the cool toys and action figures!Looking back on it now the 90’s had just as many awesome action figures as the 80’s did,and ultimately led me to want to start posting about them.I recently received a cash gift from a family member and decided to pick up a couple of 90’s figures on eBay so as soon as those arrive i’ll be posting about them.Fortunately i just so happen to have a figure that has a date stamp of 1990 on it(although it may have been released in ’89). I’ll begin with this awesome Triceraton figure that made his way into my collection thanks to a package that was sent to me by jboypac!This guy is from the T.M.N.T. universe and by the time he was released i had already stopped collecting that series.I love this figure so much (maybe because it reminds me of the old REMCO stuff) that i decided to embellish his pic a little.
Triceraton
I picked this guy up a while ago at Marshalls for the very low price of $2.00.I always though this figure looked pretty cool and original but liked it even more after reading his bio. It turns out this guy was cut from the same mold as Destro in the sense that neither of them care what side they work for(kind of like lawyers LOL). I would always see this figure on the pegs and dismiss it for another Cobra viper of some kind and frankly i’m not that into troop building,but when i realized that he was a stand alone character(and a cool one at that) i just had to pick him up.
Mercenary Wraith
Cont. Pics 1 & 2
Pic 1
Pic 2
File Card
Every once in a while somebody somewhere genuinely goes out of their way to do something generous for someone else.Granted i am pretty much new to the world of blogging and am still learning the ropes “so to speak”,my time spent surfing the web looking for cool toy/pop culture related sites have proved to be quite fruitful.Sites like “Hey Look At My Toys” ,”Super Duper Toy Box” and jboypac’s “Revenge From The Cosmic Arc” have shown me that their are others who are just as passionate about their childhood as i am.It was these three sites that ultimately inspired me to go ahead and start my own toy blog and take my own trips down memory lane(occasionally accompanied by a jboypacman,Metal Borg or an SDTB 😉 ) one post and action figure at a time.Well… This week my good friend Mr.jboypacman has taken it a step further by graciously sending me one behemoth of a package!People just don’t do things like this anymore and for jboypac to go out of his way and do something like this speaks volumes.These pics don’t do this amazing collection of contemporary as well as vintage action figures justice.I’ve got vintage M.O.T.U stuff here as well as T.M.N.T. figures and a host of other cool things that i will be looking through and taking pics of this week-end .I can’t thank you enough jbp .
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Toys,Toys .....
...and more Toys!
Well if you didn’t know by now i am an 80’s toy fanatic!In fact when i decided to collect again my sole objective was to only acquire vintage 80’s action figures.Well,that plan sort of back fired when HASBRO released the G.I. Joe ROC/ POC line,Captain America and the collectability of the Marvel Universe stuff is insane!Luckily every now and then i am able to visit my local hobby shop where all kinds of retro-coolness can be had for a pretty decent price and the bargain bins overflow with goodies!I don’t know about you but i like to head straight for the bargain bins in hopes to find those hard to find toys that are so overpriced these days on sites like Ebay ,Amazon and other hobby shops who do business online.The great thing about these shops is that you get to see,touch and inspect what your buying and there are no high shipping prices.There’s nothing like getting what you want and taking it home the same day.Take for instance this 1982 M.O.T.U. He-Man figure.I couldn’t believe that i was able to pick this little gem up for $2.50.There was a bin with about 5 or 6 1980’s M.O.T.U. figures all priced at $2.50.Some were in pretty rough shape and my He Man figure has a small nick on his left foot but not too bad.I liked He-Man as a kid but always seemed to gravitate more towards the GI Joe stuff.Nonetheless they were and still are a very cool toy, display piece and 80’s action figure!
1982 M.O.T.U. He-Man
It’s amazing how many different versions of Wolverine have been produced over the years.I would always pass on them with the feeling that store shelves would always have one available for me to purchase if i ever felt like picking one up. When I spotted a Marvel Universe 1rst appearance Wolverine at my local Wal-Mart i had to pull the trigger.He just seemed different than all the other versions and although many find his face to be a bit comedic i don’t have much of a problem with it.
MU 1rst App. Wolverine
AF&T 