Masters of the Universe - Shrinky Dinks

A couple weeks ago I saw something about Shrinky Dinks on Facebook. I decided I wanted to relive the retro fun of my childhood. I checked Ebay for a set of affordable Shrinky Dinks. I was able to buy and get this set shipped for $10. So last Saturday I had fun coloring and shrinking my Dinks.

Here is a shot of the front and back of the package. The set comes with nine characters, bases, and colored pencils. I forgot that Shrinky Dinks were made by Colorforms.

He-Man, Beast Man, He-Man on Battle Cat, and Stratos

Merman, Skeletor, Teela, Zodak, and Man-At-Arms (colored)

This image shows Skeletor before shrinking along side Man-At-Arms after shrinking. You can also see the Orko figure I created in a pieces of the scrap cut away from other characters. You can see that I decided to use permanent markers to color the Shrinky Dinks instead of colored pencils.

I had this He-Man on Battle Cat as a kid. I think each kid in my Cub Scouts Troop 

made one character from this same set when I was a kid.

I drew Orko on some scrap material. I left extra plastic under

 him to create a flying stand for him or sorts.

I also made a little Power Sword out of left over material.

My computer didn't like rendering the video because I sped up almost the entire thing.

Grunt v2 (Tan) - GI Joe '83

Tan Grunt was one of the first GI Joe repaint figures. He came packaged with the Falcon Attack Glider. I did not have Tan Grunt or his glider as a kid. I am a fan of the "tan" figures and have made some custom figures of other early Joes as "tan" figures. I bought my loose Grunt from a Toy Reseller at an Indoor Flea Market. Years later at the Outdoor Flea Market at the same place I picked up Grunt sealed in his bubble. Grunt's only accessory is a tan version of his helmet.

I like to equip Grunt with a gray M-16 and tan backpack from the early GI Joe weapon packs. This gives him the same accessories as his standard green figure. All around Tan Grunt is a great figure. It's kind of a shame Grunt didn't get featured in the supporting media more. A select few of the original Joes have gone on to be the most popular Joes ever  (Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, and Hawk), the others are almost forgotten. Grunt has had a few additional figures, but he just hasn't seen as much love.

Battle Armor Skeletor - MOTUC

A while back I posted about a Skeletor figure with a packaging error I received. I've been displaying him MOC ever since (although it will never be worth money). I finally bought a second Battle Armor Skeletor so I could open one up.

This Skeletor varient comves with special battle armor that has swappable chest plates that simulate battle damage. On the vintage figure his armor has a spring loaded drum inside his chest that would rotate to reveal the damage. He also comes with a purple battle axe. Unlike the first Classic Skeletor this one features painted "monster feet". You could actually swap their armor to help create a more accurate version of Skeletor's vintage figure.

He's a good looking figure, but certainly not a must have. These variant figures used to help cost out the other figures in the line. My making a few figures each year that only needed new armor they could spend more tooling dollars on figures that needed 100% new parts. In the recent sub they have cut back, and I'm not sure if there will be any in the 2014 sub.

Plastic Wizard

As a kid I had tons of little plastic figures. They ranged from Army Men to Knights to Astronauts. In late Elementary school my buddy Derek and I got into painting little pewter figures (Ral Partha, Dungeons & Dragons, and Warhammer 40,000). I loved painting, and often times couldn't afford as many pewter figures as I could paint so I'd paint the old plastic figures. They never had as much detail, but it was still fun.

I painted this wizard figure sometime around 6th grade. It's not a great paint job, but I promise I got better. I think in those early days it was good to practice on these cheaper figures. You can even see the gold from the wand ran down his arm and onto the loose part of his sleeve. This was before I learned about washes clearly. Oh well, it's funny looking back at the bad paint job.

Cera the Protoceratops - Definitely Dinosaurs

Definitely Dinosaurs was a line of Caveman and Dino toys made by Playskool in the late 80's and early 90's. The dinosaurs in this line all had a slightly animated appearance that appealed to kids. Cera the Protoceratops from the line is painted in various shades of green with spots on its head frill. This dinosaur came with a Caveman named Zindar. I used to buy these dinosuars at yard sales for my Dinotopia display when I was in late Elementary school. The Protoceratops has swivel cuts at the top of each of its four legs. The top portion of the head is articulated at the jaw.

All the Definitely Dinosaurs carry a logo on their belly or leg that makes them easy to identify as part of the line. I always wondered if this line inspired the JP logo on the Jurassic Park toys.

Batman Sketch by Paul Gulacy

During my Freshman year of High School I had the opportunity to meet comic artist Paul Gulacy. He was in visiting from the west coast and was staying at comic writer Doug Moench's house. So at school Doug's son, Derek told myself and a couple of other friends that Paul was in for just a couple of days if we wanted to stop over and meet him we could.

After school I dug through my comic collection looking for stuff like LotDK: Prey, Batman vs Predator II, and James Bond: Serpent's Tooth. All book that Doug had written and Paul had drawn. I got my Mom to drive me over. Paul & Doug were hanging out on the screened-in-porch. They were swapping stories and Paul was doing his Frank Sinatra impression. After I hung out for a little while and got my comics signed I asked Paul if he would draw something for me. I've meet quite a few artists at Doug's before, but this was the first time I had the nerve to ask someone to draw me something (I was in Elementary and Middle school the other times). Paul asked me who my favorite hero was. I replied "Batman & Spider-Man". He said, "I don't draw Spider-Man." I quickly said back "I know, but you didn't specify in your question." Paul, I think getting a little annoyed, said "Okay, Batman... now put your arms up. I need you to pose in a fight stance". After what seemed like forever, and Paul even telling me to keep my arms up after I started to lower them because they were getting tired, Paul revealed this beauty.

 

I had to laugh. He didn't draw his body! Clearly Paul was having a little fun at my expense. I can only assume he was inspired to draw Batman smoking because he was talking to Doug, who was smoking while Paul was drawing. Paul's wife saw what he had drawn and started chewing him out for giving a kid a picture of Batman smoking a cigarette. Paul felt a little guilty (or was trying to appease his wife) so he gave Derek and myself each an additional piece of artwork (Look for this in a later post).

 

My Mom took me to an art store at some point to buy a frame and matte for the drawing. It hung on the wall in my room until I moved out of my parents house. Now it hangs in my dinning room.

Obi-Wan Kenobi - Vintage Star Wars

Obi-Wan Kenobi  was one of the first Star Wars figures I ever owned. He came in a box of toys from a neighbor who had out grown playing with toys. I hadn't seen the movies yet and he came with no accessories. As a very young kid I used him as a generic old man. I at times I used him as a butler because I thought the tube in his hand was the end of a vacuum cleaner. Once I saw the original Star Wars movie I was excited to own a toy from the line. My original Ben Kenobi was the white hair variant. At some point his head broke off and the figure was discarded. I picked up this gray haired version with his vinyl cape at a yard sale later on.

 When I was in 3rd grade, at the start of my obsession with Star Wars, my family went to Florida to visit my grand parents. My Grandmother has a cup of colored toothpicks on the dinning room table. I freaked out. Finally I had lightsabers for my Star Wars figures. I got two blue, a green, and a red tooth pick.

I actually think the tooth picks make better lightsabers than the goofy little plastic ones they are supposed to have. Here Obi-Wan and Darth Vader are locked in epic combat. I'm kind of surprised Kenner didn't release a ghost version of Obi-Wan Kenobi back in the day.

Wolverine - Secret Wars

The Secret Wars toy line was one of the greatest super hero toy lines for a very long time. Even though the sculpts were simple and the paint apps limited the figures just looked like the leaped out of the comics. Below is Wolverine in his brown and yellow costume. The figure originally came with clip on claws. There were both silver and black claws. I bought this figure at an indoor flea market while I was in college.

Two Bad - Vintage MOTU

Two Bad always stood out among all the other strange MOTU characters as one of the weirdest to me. He's like a conjoined twin from two different races. Two Bad came with a small yellow shield that could be clipped to either of his writs. There are two different variations of the figure. Pictured below is the "flat" back version. The other figure has a more rounded back. Two Bad's action feature is involved his two arms. They are connected internally, when you pull one back they both open up and when you let go they slam shut in a pounding action.

 I never had Two Bad as a kid, but my cousin Eddy had him and I used to enjoy playing with the toy at his house. I'd love to see a custom version of the vintage figure with more traditional shoulders and arms. I kind of hope when they makes the MOTU Classics version of the character has standard shoulders.

Ghostbusters Mini-Trap - (Orange Ghost)

This is one of two ghosts that came in one package labled as mini-traps from the Kenner Real Ghostbusters line of action figures. These little monsters have spring loaded jaws that snap shut if anything touches their tongue. I received the pack of both traps as a kid. At some point in late elementary school or middle school when I was paring down my toy collection I sold the purple monster at a year sale. The orange monster lived in my parents attic in a box of yard sale fodder for years.

This little dude features lots of little legs, two horns, and one eyeball.

Here he is with his jaws locked open, ready to snap shut.

Fright Feature Winston stepped in the trap!