Bonus Post: The ECCC Dollar Bin Toy Haul!

I just got to do an extra post to show off some of the killer figures that I got for a buck each this past weekend at ECCC. You saw a couple of them yesterday in the Random Toy Pic, but I thought that their fellow cheapies needed a little spotlight, too.

So without further ado, let me introduce you all to the ECCC Dollar Bin Crew!

Like I said before, each one of these classic figures were a big whoppin' buck! Let's take a look at them individually...

First up is a classic Ugnaught, who we saw yesterday making friends with Dagget. He didn't come with any of his gear, like his purple smock, but then again, he was a dollar. In fact, none of these figures came with jack squat, but that's what eBay is for.

Here's whats-his-face from Return of the Jedi. He was one of Jabba's skiff guards, I think. I don't know, I never had him. Somebody help me out with his name. Kevin? Was that it? No... Paul?

Third in line is one of the heoes of the Battle of Endor, Nien Nunb! This dude co-piloted the Millennium Falcon with Lando against the second Death Star! They blew that business up but good, and do you know what ol' Nien did? He laughed. That's one bad dude...

And finishing up the Star Wars members of the Dollar Bin crew is the one and only Luke Skywalker in his Hoth Gear. Like I mentioned a while back, I never had this figure and just pretended that my Hoth Rebel Soldier was Luke, and now that I finally have one I feel like my entire childhood was a sham! Just kidding. But this is an awesome figure and simply exudes "Luke-ness".

And here we have adorable little Dagget from the classic Battlestar Galactica line. I did have this guy when I was a kid and ofthen pretended that he and R2D2 were best friends. When I was a kid, i thought he was just about the cutest thing ever. Looking at him again is making me rethink that original assessment. He's one freaky looking critter.

And since I was buying Dagget, I couldn't pass up this Cylon figure. I already have one Cylon figure, but you can never really have too many. Why did these figures have zero leg articulation? What a gyp!

And finishing it off, it wouldn't be my blog without at least one mention of LJN's Dungeons & Dragons line, and Bowmarc here made it home with me to join my slowly growing ranks. Granted he's completely weaponless and wearing the world's gayest armor, but he's sort of a hard one to find, so I'm considering this dude a score.

Well, that's it for the Dollar Bin Crew! I've got another article coming up tomorrow showcasing a true classic, that I have been looking for for years. See you then!

Lego Minifig of the Week! #10

CARZ! is Back!

But I've changed the name of the series to "VROOOM!" as mentioned in a previous post.

I've been so busy with artwork for my job and some other side projects that I haven't had any time to just noodle around withan art for just me. But today, I just had to take 10 minutes and crank out this quickie of Dick Dastardly's hot rod from Wacky Races.

Hopefully, I'll squeeze in a few more of these here and there, and I'm still trying to get an art show showcasing all of the VROOOM! series (I've done about 30 cars and gave another 40 to go, since I've added so many to the list). Wish me luck.

Until then... enjoy...

(click to embiggen)

Random Toy Pic #19

I'm Back from Emerald City Comic Con!

I walked for 8 hours straight, talked to a ton of awesome people, spent a butt-load of money, bought a bunch of cool toys and comics and thanks to my new vintage 1983 Darth Vader lightsaber, Captain America shield, brand spanking new Mister Miracle t-shirt and vintage Spider-Man knit ski mask (that was actually scored on eBay, but was waiting for me when I got home from the con), I'm have been instntly transformed into the Fearsome Fanboy!

I'll be devoting this entire week to all the toys I scored! So stay tuned!

Also, if you all want to see some of the pics I took of people in costumes, you can swing on by my Flickr set HERE. Enjoy!

Heading Out to Emerald City Comic Con!

Well, I'm off to the annual Emerald City Comic Con here in scenic Seattle, WA and plan on picking up armfuls of killer toys. So next week here on the blog will be devoted to my ECCC Haul Report! See you then!

Dungeons & Dragons Colorforms!

It's pretty hard to find a kid that grew up in America in the '70s or '80s that didn't have at least one set of Colorforms. Let's face it, they were cheap, looked like they had a lot of play for their buck and therefore often ended up under every kid's Christmas tree at least once. Heck, I had a couple; a Batman set and a G.I. Joe set later on.

But let's face it, this is one of those toys/games/crafts that are fun for about ten minutes. You'd peel off the rubbery (and smelly) two dimensional figures, stick them somewhere on the board, then put another one somewhere in proximity to the first one so that they sort of looked like they were interacting in some way. Then you'd look at it for a minute. Then you'd push it under your bed, never to be seen again.

Okay, to be fair, I would make and re-make some scenes, but that only bought it an extra 10-20 minutes of play before it got pushed aside.

But still, despite their lack of staying power, Colorforms were a huge hit, big sellers and still a major nostalgia bomb for many of us, myself included.

I scored this sweet Dungeons & Dragons set on eBay last week, mostly out of my love for old D&D toys and ephemera. But that didn't stop me from cracking it open and slapping those floppy heroes and villains onto the background... and then looking at it for minute, then putting it all away on the shelf for diplay.

But not before I snapped some pics first... (click the images to view Tiamat sized)

 First off, the box art is dope! It's just the type of art that I remember from the action figure card backs and coloring book covers. As a kid, this type of art smacked of a forbidden joy, reviled by parents and rampant with scale-covered, bat-winged dangers!

Inside the box, we have our usual menagerie of Colorforms components; static background scene and shiny black sheets of oddly colored vinyl figures. When I opened this set, a couple of the figures and some of their accessories were already loose and sliding around, remnants of what appears to be the one lone time some kid gave it an effort at playing with this set, only to be so bored as to let the other figures stack stuck to their black backing boards, never to be played with.

The choices of the characters, both who they are and how they were rendered, is beyond odd. I mean, a pink Warduke? And who is that little dwarven wizard character? He looks like a reject from Rankin & Bass' production of The Last Unicorn.

Anyway, none of this stopped me from putting together a harrowing scene of epic struggles in the age of swords and sorcery... umm... rendered in pink polyurethane...

Look at this exciting battle scene! A weaponless Strongheart, locked in battle with the Ogre King! Melf the male elf, looking directly at the viewer as if to say, "What the hell is going on here?" and the lovely yet competent Mercion, also looking at the viewer as if to say, "What the hell is Melf looking at?" And the maghity and fearsome Warduke... just standing there... looking pink.

Oh well, they can't all be winners. But for all its faults, this set is still an excellent example of the silliness of '80s toys (or games or crafts, depending on your point of view) and a testament to the history of a more innocent time from Dungeons & Dragons.

You know, I think I'm going to open this box back up and make another scene.

Wait... no. No I'm not.

Lego Minifig of the Week! #9

Random Toy Pic #18

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