Aaaawwww YEAH! It's a Stomper 4X4!

Well, that's it. It looks like I need to start seriously collecting classic Stomper 4X4's and Rough Riders. I loved these unstoppable, crawling toy vehicles like Guy Fieri loves hair bleach, and I waxed poetically about my A-Team Rough Rider that I got from Brian over at Cool & Collected a while back.

Well, at the last toy show I went to, I managed to score another one, the classic Stomper 4X4 Chevrolet Nomad...

Gaaaahhhhhh! Look at those awesome tires! Those really take me back. I remember the tires being made of foam originally, later to be replaced by the plastic ones shown on this beauty.

I never had this one as a kid, but I remember a kid in my 3rd grade class (which was when every boy in my grade at Blissfield Elementary went Stomper 4X4 crazy) had one and I always thought it was epic.

Sadly, this bad boy doesn't run, but I found a website that shows you how to fix them, so it's just a matter of sitting down with a soldering iron and getting to work. Also, for $10 (thanks to my homeboy Tony Fowler) you can't beat it.

I'll get this beauty running soon, and then I may just have to get my hands on a few more of them. And thus, another collection addiction begins...

Zoinks! It's the Hot Wheels Mystery Machine!

I've got to give another shout-out to the mighty honorary Dork Lord of the East, Matt K. for hooking a brother up with this killer Hot Wheels Mystery Machine. You all may have noticed that I sort of have a thing for vehicles from movies and TV (that includes cartoons), and the Mystery Machine is pretty high up on my list of all-time faves. I was super jazzed to see this at SDCC last July and new it was a matter of time before it hit stores. Unfortunately, I live in the most scalper-raided area of the country and have yet to see one of these in stores. But luckily, I have awesome brothers like Matt K. looking out for me on the other side of the country!

Check it out...

I'm not kidding, this may be my favorite of the recent TV/movie related Hot Wheels releases. Just look at this beauty...

If I have one small quibble, I do wish that Hot Wheels would have added a little detail on the front and back. You know, like the little flower on the spare tire cover, or maybe some colored lights or something. Again, small nit-pick.

Anyhoo, this one is taking up a front-and-center place of honor in my collection. Now I can go solve really, really tiny mysteries.

It's Dork Horde Give Away Time!

I know that I'm supposed to do a Top 5 Friday post today, but I'm so stoked about being beck to blogging on the reg that I thought it was time to kick things off with a bang. And there's no better way to do that than to have a give-away!

Thanks to Honorary Horde Member, Matt K. from back in North Carolina, we got a solid pile of killer goods to give out. So, first off, big thanks to Matt!

So here's how it's gonna go down; The first 6 (that's right, I said 6) Horde Members that say "Me!" or "I want one!' or "Count me in!" or whatever in the comments section of this post will get their very own Hot Wheels Batman Live Batmobile!

Not familiar with Batman Live? Check out BatmanLive.com

And if that's not awesome enough, the first 2 commenters will not only get the above mentioned Batmobile but also a Hot Wheels Dark Knight Rises The Bat!

That's right, kiddies! Just chime in and you win! Good luck to you all!

FOR THE HORDE!!!

Minimates Knight Rider K.I.T.T. & Mcihael Knight!

I'm not a huge Minimates collector. In fact, the only ones I own are a couple of Batmans (Batmen?) for the Bat-shelf and the Back to the Future Delorean & Marty McFly set which I gushed about HERE.

And since we're on the subject of Minimates toy vehicles, that brings us to today's toy, the Minimates Knight Rider K.I.T.T. and Micheal Knight!

Much like the BTTF set, you get K.I.T.T. along with a Michael Knight figure, in a brilliant little set that is clearly aimed at the nostalgic hearts of us aging '80s children. Not that i have a problem with that. As far as I'm concerned, companies can just keep coming out with toys and collectibles based on our favorite TV shows, movies and cartoons of yesteryear. Bring it on.

The set comes with a small sheet of stickers and diagram sheet evoking the vehicle sets of Kenner from 30 years ago. I'm a sucker for a decal sheet.

The Minimates figures themselves have never really grabbed me. I don't why. There's just something about their faces or their hands or whatever that just don't honk my horn. I mean, when I do the math, I should be crazy about them, they're like far more posable Lego minifigures, but something just leaves me all "meh" about them.

But to me, this set is all about this beautiful little K.I.T.T. vehicle! This piece is beyond adorable, with all it's chubbiness, while still maintaining the mandatory level of cool that a car like K.I.T.T. requires.

Unlike the Mezco Batmobile, which I hated, this car is stunningly designed.

And you can't have a K.I.T.T. without a Micheal Knight, so I guess I do to appreciate the figure to some degree. Besides, the figure is a nice little reminder of how I gave David Hasselhoff a high five at SDCC this year. That's pretty dope.

And the best part? I can now act out that classic Knight Rider scene from that episode when Micheal and K.I.T.T. ran down a bunch of zombies. What's that? That never happened? Hmmm... I could have sworn that happened...

This toy brought to you by the Jboy Pacman Toy care Package of Awesomeness. Thanks again, Jboy!

Holy CRAP! I Totally Forgot About the Batmobile Give-Away!

I can't believe I totally spaced and forgot to announce the winners of the Batmobile give-away that I posted back on Memorial Day. I was supposed to announce the winners this past Monday. But I'm a total dork and forgot.

Sorry! Anyhoodle, without further adoodle, the winners, chosen through the very highly scientific method of numbering the contestants 1 through 5 and then rolling a six sided die (6 not counting, natch), the winners are...

Dan from The Toy Museum!

and

Jon K from Jon's Random Acts of Geekery!

Congrats, gents! Email me your snail mail addresses and I'll get those sweet Matchbox Batmobiles out to you this weekend (if I remember, which I will sincerely try to do).

More Dork Horde give-aways coming soon! FOR THE HORDE!!!

Dork Horde Labor Day Give-Away!

Happy Labor Day! It's time for a Give-Away!

Thanks to honorary Hordyte (and my old high school homie) Matt K., we've got a couple of extra Matchbox Batmobiles to give away!

This give away is eligible to HORDE MEMBERS ONLY! Looking to add one of these sweet 1:64 scale rides to your collection? Just speak up in the comments section below and your name will be added to the list. Next Monday, I'll randomly pick two names for the winners!

May the best Hordyte win!

FOR THE HORDE!!!

Batmobile Extravaganza!

Thanks to my good homie back in N.C., Matt K., who I went to high school with and once pulled me out of a pile of kicking skinheads in a punk club back in '92, and the guy who coined the phrase "dork horde" on my Facebook page (thus making him an honorary member), for picking up this killer collection of Hot Wheels Batmobiles!

I imagine that these were released to cash in on the movie opening, and he had to hit a few different stores to find them all (they're getting scalped pretty hard), but he managed to find most of them (#3 The 1966 Batmobile and #4 The Batcopter are eluding us) and sent them on to me.

The funny thing is that I have most of these cars already in one version or another, but it's the sweet packaging that makes me all excited. So much so, that I think this will be one of those rare cases where I keep the toy in the package, because I think these will make a gorgeous display as they are.

Anyway, check them out...

First up is The Batman Batmobile! A car I already have, but just look at that badass backing card! I know that this version of animated Batman is not everyone's favorite, but I actually liked the design a lot.

Next we have The Brave and the Bold version, which is probably my all-time favorite Batman cartoon, and definitely one of my favorite Batmobiles...

Next we have the "Affinity Batmobile", which just confuses the hell outta me. I have this one in the original dark blue, and for years thought it was from that last crappy Schumacher Batman movie (quite frankly, I didn't pay a lot of attention to that drivel), but I guess not. This must be an original DC design, right? If anyone knows, hook me up with the info. Anyway, the black version of this car, with those red windows is friggin epic!

Here we see the Arkham Asylum Batmobile. Holy... crap. What an awesome car. Again, I have the original release of this (loose, of course), so I'm stoked to have a version still sealed in the package with that awesome artwork on the backing card.

This one sort of makes me laugh a little. I don't think that Hot Wheels released the original "Crooze" car as a Batmobile. So this smacks of a quick jet black repaint combined with some straight-from-the-style-guide artwork on the packaging. Don't get me wrong, it's got coolness dripping off its fenders. But I know a toy company trick when I see one.

Next we have what I guess is some sort of deformed 1989 Tim Burton Batmobile. I can't lie, I sort of wish that they made a more faithful version of the one in the movie, and I can't imagine why they felt the need to make it with huge from wheels and douchebag-armband-tattoo-style "tribal" graphics on the side. Not to sound ungrateful, I'm hella thrilled to have it in the collection, just confused about how it came to be.

And finally, Matt K. was a real bro and included one of the new Matchbox Batmobiles that seem to be hitting shelves lately. This one is killer on many levels. First, it's from Matchbox (which, correct me if I'm wrong, they've never released a Batmobile before, right?). Second, it's rendered in a bizarre, yet cool, sparkle blue with red trim. And third, I don't think I've ever seen this mold before! I may be wrong on that. But it's new to me.

Anyway, thanks a ton to Matt K. back in N.C. for hooking a brother up! This is going to make such a bitchin' display.

The Vintage Mr. T Remote Control Car Pities Fools.

I'm back from the sasquatch-haunted woods of Washington state, and managed to survive the trip with only a mid-level case of indigestion and less than 175 bug bites.

Now it's time to get back to some blogging!

And to ease back into the swing of things, I'm tapped into my vast folder of pics to pull up this little gem that was part of my toy care package from Brian over at Cool & Collected that I kept meaning to blog about, due to its sheer awesomeness, and today's that day.

The 80s, from a playthings point of view, was rife with toys that were cranked out by companies quickly (and often cheaply) in order to cash in on a hot fad. And nothing could possibly illustrate that better than this sweet Mr. T remote control car...

Hooooooooo boy! Look at this paragon of quality toy making! I love toys like this. Yeah, they're cheap-looking, but there's a ton of quick-thinking innovation in this piece. You can almost picture the designers at the toy company going, "Okay, we've got permission to make Mr. T toys! But we don't know how long this fad is going to last, so we really gotta crank something out. Do we still have those crates full of little red remote control Camaros? We do? Sweet! Now get what's-his-face in here from the sticker making department! I've got an idea!"

The real beauty of this piece is in the decals. Showing Mr. T from the front in the windshield, gripping the stearing wheel like he grips fools by the throat, and then showing him in the driver's side window raising up a threatening fist as if to say, "Hey, fool! Get outta the fast lane! I've been trying to pass you for the last 7 miles!"

And in case you don't know whose car this is, they added a big Mr. T logo to the sides and front. I don't know if this is an official logo for the mo-hawked celebrity, but it seems familiar to me.

But the greatest decal of them all is the random jumble of gold chains on the back windshield. Holy crap, that's bizarre! I'm sure this decal is just filler graphics, but it makes me think that the toy designers wanted to imply that Mr. T has just left from his weekly trip to the jewelry store and has loaded up his entire back seat, filled all the way to the back windshield, with piles and piles of gold chains.

Checking out the copyright sticker, I was shocked to see that yes, it was a legit Mr. T licensed product, and double shocked to see that it was produced by Remco, makers of some of my favorite Universal Monsters figures among many other great toys of the '80s.

So, once again, thanks to Brian for sending this my way!

That's it for today. Don't gimme no jibber-jabber and come back soon, fools!

The Black (Not So) Beauty

Well, not every collectible we get our greedy little mitts on can be a winner, and today's featured piece is a prime example of what you get for being cheap.

In my quest to build a respectable collection of 1:64 scale cars from movies and TV, I had decided that I really needed a slick miniature Black Beauty, the midnight black vehicle of the legendary Green Hornet. However, any decent versions of the Black Beauty are vintage, rare, and expensive.

Then I stumbled onto an eBay listing for a Black Beauty keychain from the Carl's Jr. Green Hornet movie kid's meal promotion! I got the the bright idea that I'd just buy one of these (because they were literally selling for $1) and just take the keychain part off! Brilliant.

Well, then I got it in the mail...

As soon as I opened up the packaging, I knew I screwed up. Sadly, this wasn't the Hot Wheels/Matchbox style of toy at all that I was expecting. In fact, the wheels didn't even roll, they are cast as part of the car. Lame!

The detail on it isn't half bad at all. I just love those green headlights.

But the biggest fault in this piece is that it's not even the proper scale for my collection. It's just a little too small, making it look more like The Black Go-kart. Double lame.

So, the moral of the story is that I should just hold out until I find a proper Black Beauty, and when I do, just to shell out the moola that it's worth.

In the meantime, I did add this piece to the shelf of TV and movie cars until I can get a good one, but I'm starting to feel like the other cars are making fun of it. And why shouldn't they? It's not like it can roll after them. Triple lame.

1982 Rough Riders A-Team Van!

First off, extra-special thanks to Brain from Cool & Collected for sending this sweet piece of pop-culture machinery my way!

Now, you'd think after all of the nostalgic blogging I've done over the years that I would have covered just about every toy I ever had and loved as a kid. Well, you'd be wrong, because despite my penchant for waxing poetic about the playthings of my youth, there are a few truly beloved toys that I haven't even touched on for one simple reason; I can't friggin' get my hands on them today.

There is a small list of toys in my head that I keep hoping to score once again and then I can open up a veritable floodgate of blog posts about them, but until I actually get one in my hands, I'm trying to keep tight lipped.

Today's little gem is a cousin of one of those toys. Ladies and germs, I present to you, the 1982 LJN Rough Rider A-Team Assault Vehicle...

When I was in 3rd grade, the entire 6 to 11-year-old male population of my school became obsessed with these little motorized 4X4 toy trucks called Stompers. Every single kid I knew had at least three of them. They were such a simple toy. Basically a toy truck that rolled forward, had headlights that lit up, and could climb up a small dirt hill or over a pile of pencils (logs). The beauty of the Stompers was in the removable chassis, which was brilliant because once your Stomper's mechanical components broke (and they would eventually), you just bought a new one and now had two interchangeable chassis for your rig.

I fondly remember having massive trading sessions with kids over chassis. I probably only ever had two working vehicles at a time, but up to 7 or 8 chassis to swap out. It also got to the point that if the motorized part got too busted, kids would just gut the whole things and roll their Stompers around the old fashioned way, which by all accounts should have made us think, Aw, crap. It's broken. But for some reason we just thought that was yet another cool aspect to Stompers.

Soon, LJN (makers of the classic Dungeons & Dragons action figures) would get in on the action and release their version of Stompers (which were released by Schaper) called Rough Riders. Now, usually kids can smell a knock off a mile away and usually avoid them, but we didn't skip a beat. We just bought them up with or allowances (or begged for them from our parents) right alongside the regular Stompers. In fact, so welcome were the new vehicles, that we just called them Stompers, too.

This particular vehicle, The A-Team Assault Vehicle, was one that I have seen only once in person and that was 30 years ago. A kid in my 4th grade class had one and we all thought it was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen.

The only Rough Riders I ever remember owning personally were two Army-looking vehicles, one was like a Jeep and the other was this sort of fantasy tank thing.

Rough Riders made several improvements on the Stomper idea. The first was the "gear shift" at the top. Where Stompers had an on/off switch on the bottom, Rough Riders made access to the switch much easier by putting it on top. Then they took it a step further added three settings to the switch; off, climbing mode (slow, steady crawl) and turbo (high speed).

Another added feature came in the form of the Rough Rider's protruding cone shaped hubcaps...

These gave the vehicle the ability to do that killer movie stunt where the vehicle rolls along on two wheels. I know this sounds silly by today's toy standards, but in 1982, that blew our minds.

So, here's the thing; I've been eyeballing Stompers and Rough Riders on eBay for a few years now, and due to their high secondary market prices (around $40 each if they're running), I've managed to avoid getting sucked into officially collecting them. But now that I've got one of these babies in my hands again after all this time, I feel the bug biting.

This just may be the start of a beautiful collection.

By the way, if anyone out there can find me one of these (in any condition), let a brother know.