Terror Trash Ghost - Ghostbusters

Terror Trash Ghost is part of the Haunted Humans sub-line of Kenner's The Real Ghostbusters. He's dressed in an orange outfit and has a gray trash can in his hands. Because of his action feature, the Trash Can Man has very little articulation. In fact his only real joints are at his shoulders. This toy always reminded me a little of the Trashman character from Sesame Street who carried Oscar the Grouch around. That character was created to allow the puppeteer to walk around and still operate Oscar in front of him.

 Anyway, back to Terror Trash Ghost can transform from the Trash-man into  a grasshopper like insect. The trashcan flips over his head. The Trash-man's head pushes the bug head out of the bottom of the can. An insect mandible pops out of the man's stomach once the can is out of the way. Translucent green wings fold out of the man's legs. He's creepy I guess, bu not very ghost like.

Drake's Cakes Marvel Mini-Comics

During the mid 90's a four issue series of Mini-Comics was released by Marvel as a promotion with Drake's Snack Cakes. My Grandmother frequently bought these cakes and save the little comics for me that featured Spider-Man, the X-Men, Hulk, and Silver Surfer.

I lucked out and got all four issues.

The back of the issue had a little add for the cakes. 

"Hey Kids! Ask for Drake's - The Snack Cake Champ!"

Flea Market Finds #17

With the Hayride during October is really hard to try to get out to flea markets and yard sales. I'm up so late that I hate to get out early to look for action figure treasures. I happened to swing by one of my favorite flea markets this weekend (much later than usual) and I happened to find two fun figures.

For a total of $2 I got the gray Undercover Bruce Wayne figure and Imaginext Bane. Bruce Wayen come with his gray trench coat, which is the important item to me. The only piece of Batman gear he came with is one glove.  Both figures show a little play wear, but are in good shape. The funny thing about Undercover Bruce is that I bough the orange version of him years ago at a yard sale with the trench coat, bat-cowl and the same glove. I still don't have enough parts to make a full Batman out of the two of them. I'm glad I don't have to spend the money for the Imaginext Batcave just to get Bane.

I will break you!!!!

Rainbow Brite Pencils

Here are two Rainbow Brite Pencils that probably belonged to my sister in the '80s. They are both white with images of Rainbow Brite and her horse Starlite on them with some colorful starts in between. The both feature rounded off tops with no erasers. One is in brand new, while the other one is sharpens, but not used much. Rainbow Brite was created by Hallmark Cards and turned into a popular 80's brand.

Ram Man - MOTUC

One of the most popular characters released this year for the Masters of the Universe Classics line was Ram Man. The original figure was kind of odd, and he got a goofy treatment in the Filmation cartoon. For the 200x series he was redesigned as a larger and beefier character. He filled the role of the strong, but dumb archetype often seen in popular mythology. This new classic figure is massive. He's not really taller, but thicker. His hands are bigger than many character's heads.

Ram Man is a perfect update of the vintage figure. He features great detailing on his face as well as his armor. This is the first Ram Man to ever have two independently pose-able legs. Since the classics figures do not have action features there is no springing legs here.

In the 200x cartoon Ram Man was occasionally seen without his full helmet on. You could see that the top of his helmet was actually a plate bolted to his head. This version of Ram Man came with two heads. One helmeted, and the other with just the top plate. Both feature the same squinting eyes. This facial feature comes from the original cross sell art.

Ram Man's armor features a clip on his back that can store his axe.  Ram-Man's axe is his only other accessory he came with besides his alternative head. He was a deluxe figure due to his large size. He was a very expensive figure for Mattel to produce because he was 100% new tooling will little change of reuse.

Young Justice: Batman & Robin

Young Justice was a cartoon show that was part of the DC Nation cartoon block on Saturday mornings. Unfortunately after two seasons the cartoon show was canceled. Young Justice focused on "The Team", basically all the teen heroes formed their own Justice League like the Teen Titans. It was in my opinion the best DC cartoon since Batman: The Animated Series.

 Like most cartoons, the show was supported by a line of merchandise including action figures. The figures did a nice job of capturing the style of the cartoon. When I saw the Batman & Robin two pack at Toys R Us I had to get it. After cracking the pack open I was disappointed to find out they had very little articulation. The Young Justice figures, like the toys for Batman:tAS and Justice League Unlimited only have five points of articulation. Their shoulder articulation is further hindered by their caps. They look great, but unfortunately don't really have any posing options.

GI Joe & Transformers SDCC '13 Part 2

Since so many different items were included in this Comic Con Exclusive Set, I decided to break it up into two posts. Check out Part 1 for information on the GI Joe Vehicles decorated like Transformers from this set.

The set included the two Autobot vehicles, a GI Joe, and an Autobot "accessory". Part 1 showed off Jetfire and Hound. So this post focuses on Snake-Eyes and Blaster. Snake-Eyes is basicly just a repaint of a previously released figure. He's dressed in his usual black gear with camo pants. He reminds me a little of a custom figure I made a while ago. Snake-Eyes is armed with a sword and uzi. Blaster, the boom box Autobot comes with three cassettes that can be inserted into him and features a peg that allows him to be worn like a backpack on Snake-Eyes. A similar Soundwave tape deck came with last years Destro with Shockwave/Hiss Tank set. Snake-Eyes has an Autobots logo on his shoulder.

Here you can see a close up of Blaster and his cassette tapes.

The 2013 SDCC set included a Decepticon figure, a Cobra figure, and a Decepticon accessory. One of the bad guys included in the set is Bludgeon. This is a character I was unfamiliar with before getting the set. He's made using the new Budo body with an all new head. Bludgeon was a G1 Pretender figures released in 1989. Hasbro took a lot of liberties with this figure, but he's cool. I wish his legs had a better range of motion, but his armor really gets in the way. The sculpt of his skull head along with his helmet remind me a little of Skeletor from the New Adventures of He-Man. Bludgeon has Decepticon logos on his robes over the armor. He includes a removable helmet and two different length swords.

 The lone Cobra included in the set is the Baroness. She has a reused body, but an all new head sculpt. It's interesting that she has a sculpted on microphone.


Baroness comes with three different guns.One of them screams Baroness to me. One is an updated version of my all time favorite GI Joe weapon, the Viper Rife. The third gun doesn't really do anything for me.


Baroness' new head sculpt looks really great. I like the way her hair is blowing in the wind. Her Cobra logo also looks great on her chest.

Soundwave is my all time favorite Transformer, and all his little cassette buddies come second. Ravage is my favorite of his cassettes. He was a driving factor along with Jetfire for me to buy this set. I was pretty bummed out when I found out he only has one point of articulation. If this guy was fully articulated he's be incredible. His only articulation point is at the back of the neck. Shoulder joints would have been nice, and elbows would have been awesome. He's an accessory, not really a figure.

Here's my best attempt at recreating the image that started the buzz for this Exclusive set. Baroness walking Ravage. The concept is based on a Devil's Due comic cover from GI Joe / Transformers.

Bludgeon and Ravage ambush Snake-Eyes and Hound.

Snake-Eyes neutralized Bludgeon, but Ravage won't give up without a fight.

GI Joe & Transformers SDCC '13 Part 1

For the past three years Hasbro has offered a cool GI Joe & Transformers exclusives. The first one I wanted so bad (Skystriker/Starscream) but never got. The second one was easy for me to pass on (Modern Hiss Tank/Shockwave). This year the set features a Skystriker/Jetfire and a Vamp/Hound and when is showed up on Hasbro Toy Shop I had to pick it up.

The original Jetfire was one of the largest Transformers jet. The mold for the G1 Jetfire came from the Robotech line. Hasbro used their modern (retooled) Skystriker toy with a new piece that can be added to the rear of the plan. There was some talk online about Hasbro getting sued over this toy which looks like the Jet from Robotech. From what I read they settled the lawsuit out of court

Autobot Jetfire retains the Skystriker's mechanical wing and landing gear movement. Although the add on piece covers the lever to activate the feature. Jetfire's add on piece attaches where the rear fins attach to the plane. The back also features a second cockpit. Jetfire comes with about a million stickers. It was a lot of work to get them all on there.

Autobot Hound is just the modern (retooled) Vamp with some new stickers. Hound comes with the rear mounted laser cannon and two gas cans. Just like Jetfire, Hound can not transform he's just a GI Joe vehicle decorated to look the Transformer in vehicle mode. Hound can carry two GI Joe figures inside. His hood also lifts up to reveal his engine.

Jetfire taking off from the USS Flagg

 

 Here is a view of Jetfire with both of his canopies open. One action figure fits in each cockpit. Jetfire also has two panels that can be removed for "maintenance".

Here is a quick comparison shot of Jetfire and the standard Skystriker it is based on.

I'll be posting the figures from this set in the near future...

Wolverine 2nd Edition - Toy Biz

This is the second version of Wolverine released in the Uncanny X-Men line by Toy Biz. This time he is suited up in his blue and yellow get up. His claws don't retract and stay in, they just sort of slide in and out to make it look like he's stabbing something. This version of Wolverine does not have a removable mask, but this helps give him a better appearance.

The only accessory this version came with was a small black gun (not pictures). Why he came with a gun? I really don't know. I bought my figure at a yard sale without his gun years ago. I used him in my stop motion animated show, Action Figure Adventures. He didn't play a very big part, but if you want to check it out there is a tab on the side for that series.

I still remember the first time I saw this figure was the night of the Christmas Program at my Elementary School in 5th grade. My buddy Paul had him in his pocket and played with him before it was our classes turn to go on and sing our song or whatever. Paul played Santa Claus in the Christmas Program in 1st grade. I was his head toy making elf.

Thunder v1 - GI Joe '84

Thunder is probably one of the most forget GI Joes from the early days. He was packaged as the driver to the Slugger. Thunder wears a brown shirt with black pants. He has a green vest over his shirt. He came with a three piece helmet and a monocular. Thunder's helmet consists of the standard early Joes helmet with a snap on visor and headset. His head and helmet were later reused for the Tiger Force character Skystriker.

Hasbro used such an odd reddish/orange for all the gingers on the Joe team. It's hard to take a figure like Thunder or Charbroil seriously with that red hair. His vehicle is a self propelled cannon so his monocular must be for spotting targets far way. I'm surprised they didn't pack him with a calculator accessory so he can figure out the trajectory at which he needs to fire the Slugger.

Thunder has kind of a generic sculpt. This makes his arms and legs decent for making custom figures. I used his legs for a couple figures over the years. Thunder never got a lot of screen time in the toon or very many panels in the comic. As a kid I felt like we was kind of like Steeler and Short-Fuse jammed into one character... and so not that interesting.