S.T.A.R. Team's Lord of Darkness!

Most of you probably know about Ideal's answer to the lack of Star Wars toys back around Christmas 1977, which briefly took over toy shelves as the parent-confusing S.T.A.R. Team! To call this a Star Wars ripoff would be a massive understatement. Ideal basically slapped together a small menagerie of characters such as the R2-D2 wannabe, Zeroid, the C3PO/cantina alien hybrid known as Zem 21 (who I wrote about over on my Abut.com Action Figures page seen HERE) and the stunningly blatant Lord of Darkness.

Now, I've written several times about the Christmas of 1977, during which I went without any Star Wars toys (like every other kid in America) but that didn't stop me from going over to the next door neighbor kids' house and immediately making fun of their newly unwrapped knock-off S.T.A.R. Team figures. I think it went something like, "That's not Darth Vader! That's a FAKE!"

I could be a little jerk back then.

Well, fast forward 33 years and I still hadn't forgotten the toys, which despite their dubious origins, still got played with somewhat regularly. Thus my schadenfreude turned to avarice and I found myself, in my ever increasing fits of nostalgia, wanting a set of S.T.A.R. Team toys for myself.

I managed to score a Zem 21 last year at a local toy show and now, through the magical powers of eBay, finally have my very own Lord of Darkness!

This bad boy was a little hard to find. Not so much due to how expensive he is (he's not), but more in how difficult it can be to find one in decent shape.

The silver chest piece (which doesn't really come out in these pics) is very often chipped off and shredded, probably due to the material from which it's made. But this guy seemed to have most of the silver still on his chest so I went for it. Sadly, no one even big against me and I got him for the starting price. Poor Lord of Darkness. No one loves you!

One thing I remember most about him from my youth was his astonishingly derpy face. I think that the silver part of the mask are supposed to be his eyes, but the round black areas above them and below the brow look like big, goofy cartoon eyeballs, giving him the I'm-so-wittle-and-cute cross eyed look. And his eyebrows just look worried to me.

Another small issue with this figure was the fact that he only came with one boot (not originally, that would be silly... this particular used figure, I mean), but luckily I managed to buy a new pair of boots for a couple of bucks on eBay. Turns out that this dude just wore the standard Captain Action black boots and they're all over the internet for sale.

But one this that sort of freaked me out was his pitch black foot. In fact, his whole body is molded in black, but there's something about seeing his little black foot with its little black toes and little black toenails that gave me the heebie jeebies.

Another thing I'd like to point out is his belt which is such a stunning ripoff of Darth Vader's Chest... ummm... buttons, that I can't believe Ideal didn't get sued. Oh well, it was the '70s.

Still, I know I make fun, but this figure is a major part of my childhood memories, even if he did belong to the neighbor kid.  So how he's posed on my shelf, occasionally kicking my poor Zem 21, whose joints are so rattlingly loose that he can't stand up on his own. Man that Lord of Darkness is one mean dude.

Now all I have to do is keep him on that shelf, displayed for all the world, and wait for that moment when one of my friends' kids comes into The Nerdatorium, looks around, points, and goes, "That's not Darth Vader! That's a FAKE!"

Bonus Post! It Snowed in Seattle!

Last night we got about 3" of my favorite form of precipitation and, inspired by Chunky B's post that he posted a while back, I decided to quickly snap some shots before starting my work day.

I grabbed my vintage Taun Taun, Wampa and Luke (I know, that's not technically Luke, but I never had the Hoth Luke as a kid, so I always just pretended that my Hoth Rebel Soldier was Luke instead. And that is still the case 30 years later.) and headed out to the backyard!

Okay, I better get to work.

Lego Minifig of the Week! #8

Random Toy Pic #17

Star Wars Micro Collection Wampa Cave!

Way back in 1982, when Empire Strikes Back fever was waning, in the pre-dawn moments before the coming sunrise of Return of the Jedi, Kenner did whatever they could to keep interest alive. One of the offbeat products of this period was the Star Wars Micro Collection, a series of plastic playsets, peopled by miniature, fully-painted, die-cast metal figures of our favorite Rebels and Imperials, re-enacting famous scenes from both A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

These proved to be about as popular as lip herpes, and kids avoided them like the plague. The were small, unarticulated and relatively expensive, thus turning off parents who were reluctant to buy miniature static versions of toys they had already purchased for their kid. I, on the other hand, thought they were AMAZING!

Luckily for me, I spotted them at a discount store during a shopping trip with my Mom, clearanced to such a low price point that my meager leaf-raking moola was more than enough to pick up two full sets. One was the Death Star set with crush-o-matic garbage shoot and the other was the stark white expanse of the deadly Wampa Cave.

Almost 30 years later, that Wampa Cave set is mine again.

As a kid, I absolutely adored these sets. They were less toy to me than diorama; a three dimensional trading card, freezing in time my most favorite scenes from my all-time favorite movie. I kept both sets set up on permanent display on my bookshelf next to my bed, where they held a rare place of honor in the chaos of my bedroom; toys that were never played with, outside the occasional nudging of one of the figures with a hearty "Pew! Pew! Pew!"

The set included a stark white plastic cave, with clever puzzle piece moldings with which to connect the other Hoth sets (which I never did find). And the figures themselves, heavy in the hand and finely detailed made the onlooker feel like they were the eyes of the galaxy looking down on an adventurous and desperate tableau.

Above we see the fearsome Wampa, the meat-fisted, horned visage of a wintry carnivore!

And what's this? The Wampa has hung up his prey, the luckless former farmboy, Luke Skywalker dangle unconscious, oblivious of his fate. Wake up, Luke!

Meanwhile, an Imperial probe droid skims across the snowy surface, suddenly distracted by a hairy beast bellowing out of the freezing wind!

Just then, the Wookie's unseen cohort, Han Solo, takes his shot. And it's a hit! But the signal has been sent. The Empire has been alerted to the whereabouts of the Rebel Base.

We better get out of here, Chewie. We've got a fight ahead of us.

I know I collect a lot of toys from my youth, but this one seemed to really pluck at the strings of nostalgia with a strength unlike most of the others. The set is clearly used, with a few dings here and there, and Chewie is missing his gun (why he had a separate plastic gun that could be removed is beyond me), but all in all, it's exactly like I remember it.

So here I am, 30 years later, placing this set once again on a bookshelf, retaking its rightful place of honor, and the circle is complete.

Now, back to eBay to look for that Death Star set!

Lego Minifig of the Week! #7

Random Toy Pic #16

Marvel Universe Ghost Rider!

Inspired by my good friend from Brazil, Fabio, I have picked up a few more Marvel Universe figures. You all probably saw the post from last week of the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends 3 pack that I posted. MU's are hit and miss with me. Some of the figures are awesome and other are utter garbage. I can't believe there is such a wide swing between one figure or another in the same toy line, but that's is how it seems to me.

However, one figure I picked up on the same day as the Spidey set was one that I have never seen in stores (mostly due to my area being very poorly supplied and lousy with scalpers), and only saw once at a toy show (for $30... see what I mean about the scalpers?), but one lovely day at Toys R Us, I spotted him, hanging on the pegs, calling out to me... the one, the only... Ghost Rider!

Ghost Rider has always been one of those characters that, although never making it into my top 10 favorites or anything, I still always considered him one of the coolest characters in comicdom. I had 2 or 3 Ghost Rider comics as a kid and thought they were killer and would later get pretty into him when he received a big boost in the early '90s.

The figure itself is absolutely KILLER! The sculpt of the skull and the translucence of the flames is just awesome. One of my favorite features is his included quasi-molten chain of pain! I was so excited to find him that I immediately went over to the toy vehicles section and looked for a motorcycle for him. Most of the 1:18 scale bikes were Japanese style crotch-rockets, but I did find this pretty cool Harley for him that... hey... wait a second...

"Woooohoooo! I'm ridin' a motorcycle, baby! How cool am I? I'm Biker Spider-Man! Aaaaawwwww YEAH!"

"EXCUSE ME, BUT DO YOU MIND GETTING OFF OF MY BIKE?"

"Oh... ummm... yeah... my bad. Bigflameheadedjerkiwasjustsittingonit..."

Anyway, the bike is a bit small for these figures. Why is 1:18 scale so hard for toy designers to nail down? Whatevs... he looks pretty friggin cool on his new Harley and maybe one of these day's I'll bust out the glue gun and orange paints and make his a set of flaming wheels.

So there he is, kiddies! The mighty Ghost Rider! I want to thank Fabio for inspiring me to take another look at Marvel Universe figures! Thanks for reading, gang!

Lego Minifig of the Week! #6

Random Toy Pic #15

LJN's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Vintage Mercion!

I... love... LOVE, I say... LJN's 1983 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons figures, and have waxed poetically time and time again about the sheer frightening awesomeness of Warduke, or the gleaming righteousness of Strongheart, but I have never really talked about any of the other figures in the line, and as I was looking over my AD&D collection the other day, I decided that it was fine time to give a little spotlight to my favorite Good Female Cleric, Mercion.

I scored this Mercion figure after almost two years of trolling eBay for a decent and affordable one (to no success) in a deal made on an action figure forum. Mercion is one of those figures that I never had, but was always aware of, thanks to seeing her on the backs of the cards and once in real life on the shelf of a childhood friend who took far better care of his toys that me.

Now, not to be a total pig here, but let's be honest, she's pretty cute. And there's something to be said about courageous women in full armor.

Okay, now I'm being a total pig. Woot! Woot! Booty shot!

Actually, the main reason I stripped her down was because it was pointed out to me on my Flickr page account that her tunic and cloak appeared to be inside out. But once I got those off (carefully, due to the almost ancient strings holding the cloak on), I was astonished by the killer sculpting of her armor, especially for 1983. I mean, you can see every little strap and buckle, every fold in her glove, every row of woven chainmail. Even her hair seems to be artfully sculpted, far beyond the usual fare served up in the early '80s.

Which brings us to her clothing. Again, I'm a sucker for realistic cloth clothing on figures (I know some people hate it), so you know that I'm simply over the moon that this little figure (she's one of the shortest figures in the line) came with a cloth tunic, tied with a small length of black ribbon for a belt, covered by a silver, sparkling cloak (the sparkle didn't really come through in the picture, but trust me, it's pretty badass looking).

Here she is in her Cleric's tunic...

And now with her cloak and mighty staff of head-bonkingness...

Which it looks like she's going to need, since there seems to be trouble in this part of the forest. PRepare yourself, Mercion!

Anyway, to sum up, despite the fact that I never had this figure (thus lessening my nostalgic ties to it a bit) and the fact that my AD&D collection is made op of frightening foes and larger than life heroes, this little, gentle-faced, sun-haired Cleric somehow manages to stand out of the crowd. A capable young woman in a dangerous world.

But, I think I'm going to call in Strongheart just the same. I mean, that is Warduke approaching.

Lego Minifig of the Week! #5

Random Toy Pic #14

"Throw me the idol! I'll throw you the whip!" The Rest of My ROTLA Haul...

On Monday, I posted a video blog in which I revealed my new beloved, near-mint and complete 1982 Indiana Jones action figure. I also mentioned that I got him in a lot of four vintage ROTLA figures, and it's high time I showed them off (after all, this has turned into an impromptu "Indiana Jones Week" here on the blog). So, without further ado...

The fist figure in this lot, is the dreaded Cairo Swordsman! Made famous by his amazing sword twirling displays and his even more amazing getting shot abilities. I never had this one as a kid, and always wanted to re-enact the famous scene where Indy pops a cap in this chump, and now a life-long dream has come true.

Next up is the somewhat rare mail-away Belloq in Ceremonial Robes, from the infamous "I wouldn't open that if I were you" scene at the end of the movie. Looking at this figure, it strikes me that, for their time, these figures were astonishingly well made, with their cloth outfits and extra detailed accessories. Al of that, combined with a little extra articulation, made me wonder if the designers at Kenner had just a bit more love in their hearts for this line over the much more popular Star Wars figures.

Just look at Belloq bellow. For 1982, this was practically a work of art.

And the third, and most cherished, figure in this lot, is the lovely and courageous Marion Ravenwood. I had never even seen this figure in real life before, until it arrived in the mail last week. As a kid, desperate for ROTLA toys, which seemed to be impossible to find (despite many claims I have heard of these toys warming the pegs of toy stores all over the country and many being clearanced or destroyed due to low sales), I often wistfully gazed at a picture from a toy catalog of the Well of Souls playset, with Indy swinging on his whip, holding tight to Marion as they attempt their escape from the slithering floor of this musty tomb.

Alas, I never did get a Marion figure, and it's probably just as well. With her lacy dress and frilly panties (yes, I checked), this figure is dangerously close to a "doll" and having a doll-like girl figure back then could have been social suicide on my block.

But I have one now, and I don't care who knows it!

And of course, no Marion Ravenwood figure would be complete without her trusty (no he's not) and lively (not after eating that date) little monkey.

So, there they are; my budding collection of complete Raiders of the Lost Ark figures! I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that I'm now considering getting the rest of the figures from this line. I mean, I've already got two of the hardest ones to find! So, now I have my own quest to go on. Which will probably call for far less tarantulas. I hope.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed "Indiana Jones Week!"

Lego Minifig of the Week! #4

Random Toy Pic #13

(So... it looks like this is going to be Indiana Jones week. Enjoy.)

3 Dimensional Boogorz!

A looooooooong while back, I posted a pic of some weird critters I came up with that I started to call "Boogorz", mostly because they were green and looked like something that would dwell inside a nose. Here they are again...

Well, I thought it would be fun to try and sculpt a few of them. I'm a crappy sculptor, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyhoodle, so after purchasing some cheap air-dry modeling clay and spending a half hour or so at the dining room table, this gruesome little bugger was born...

Isn't he cute? Like I said, my sculpting skills are rubbish, but they'll get better as I make more critters.

I'm thinking of a whole series of little uglies based on gross body stuff, all in little clans like the Boogorz, but made out of earwax and toejam and poo. Anyway. Just an idea. A very, very disgusting idea.

The Randomest Cheap-o eBay Haul EVER!

Some of you may not know this about me, but I like to buy toys on eBay. No, no... it's true. If I don't watch it, I can kill an entire afternoon trolling for cool action figure lots and hunting down good deals. And recently, I managed to win one of the most random assortments of toys I have ever seen, causing me to imagine some mom emptying out her grown son's old toy box and lumping together anything that was roughly humanoid in shape, made of plastic and under 4" tall and throwing them all up on eBay as one big bundle to see if anyone bites.

Well, I bit.

About $10 plush shipping later, I was the proud owner of a mish-mash of action figures from all walks of toydom. And here they are...

Look at that insane collection! Clearly some guy around my age is, at this very moment, saying to his mother, "You sold my WHAT?!" Sorry, dude.

First up are the figures that led me to this find, a Kenner Super Powers Flash and an Aquaman. As you all know, I scored some killer Super Powers dudes a while back and am now kind of on a kick about them. Seriously, I would have paid ten clams just for these two figures alone, so I figure that the rest of the haul is gravy. 

Next up we have some classic Fisher Price Adventure People. Despite there simplicity, I find these guys quite charming. Of course, these dudes, a swingin' swim instructor, a banana colored scuba guy and a motorcyclist with no motorcycle, may not be the best examples of the more shining characters in this line, but read on...

These are the most kick ass figures of the line! You all saw two of them the other day, such was my excitement of finally owning a Clawtron and X-ray lady again that I just had to post them. In the middle is one of my favorites from bygone years, the green headed space traveler who's name escapes me right now. I actually already have this guy and his classic one-man space fighter, thanks to Bubbashelby, but this one is in super duper condition and will get added to the mighty shelf of nostalgia. Now I just need to get an X-ray man!

Seriously, people... how pimp is Clawtron?

There were also other singular oddities in this bunch, like this vintage Mego Pocket Heroes Zod, who spends a lot of time ordering my other figures to kneel before him, a Planet of the Apes parachuting orangutan and some Star Trek dude. I don't know... Bones? No idea who he is, but he's sporting the same lovely shade of banana as the Fisher Price scuba instructor.

And what jumble of random toys would be complete without two Gargamels and a Waldorf? I actually had the Gargamel in the middle, who originally came with a little Azrael (which I now have to find). And doesn't Waldorf look like he's going, "Oh, puh-leeeze!"

And, of course, one single random plastic cowboy. Why not.

Ahhh... Action figure lots like this bring me way too much joy. Something about kicking back and looking over them that sends me back to the days when I toted around my cherished cowboy boot box, filled to the top with a willy nilly collection of figures. As I would put them away at night, an Indiana Jones next to several Smurfs, a Snake Eyes next to one of the Duke boys, a Cyclon next to an R2D2, I would imagine that they would talk about today's earlier adventure, going back over the exciting parts, telling my Remco Wolfman that he'd get his chance next time and everyone keeping a wary eye on Warduke.

I wonder what these figures will talk about tonight? One thing is for sure, I imagine there will be a lot of, "KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"