10. Legion of Superheroes- The future of superheroes in the DC universe were originally best pals with Superman and lived strictly by the codes and morals he set down. The team is insanely vast with a cast that rivals G.I Joe, all with a set of unique powers from magnetism to eating matter, meaning a character for everyone.

9. Moon Knight- Though Moon Knight has been accused of being Marvel’s Batman, the character has recently been treated to Marvel’s top writers, giving him a chance to prove he’s so much more. Though he doesn’t have the most child-friendly origin story, the character has a unique motif and an array of vehicles and gadgets which would capture a child’s imagination from a bow and arrows to escape pods.

8- Ultimate Captain Marvel- Although it may be the most used name in the comics industry, I believe there’s only one that would make one of the grossest figures ever. To give a little background, the Ultimate imprint is a separate line of comics published by Marvel in a different universe where popular heroes like Spider-man are re-imagined. This version of Captain Marvel is equipped with surgical modifications to help him look more human but is usually transformed into a bigger, meaner form equipped with massive blaster cannons. The perfect feature for a toy. !

7. YU-GI-OH! GX Heroes card series- The choice of cards for the protagonist of the second installment of the card game franchise. This set of monsters are based on US superheroes but given a Japanese twist as the sidekick character wears a space helmet. Each character is visually entertaining and the collection of magic cards designed to support the characters ensures a huge collection of play sets and accessories.

6. Antman/ Wasp- Ironically the smallest in terms of popularity, scientist Hank Pym created ‘Pym particles,’ which grants its users the ability to shrink or grow in size. Hank has had various super hero identities ranging from Antman to Yellowjacket whilst his wife Janet Van Dyne has had so many different outfits it’d make a Barbie jealous. Alongside Janet being a fashionista of a wife and their ever-growing super hero wardrobes, Hank is also a super scientist with an inventory of snazzy gadgets which has aided The Avengers over the years.

5. Speedy- Green Arrow’s teen protégé’ has always been the bad boy of sidekicks. Unlike Robin, Roy Harper has probably had the most scandalous comic back history, ranging from being addicted to drugs to impregnating a super villain. Due to having various trick arrows at his disposable, along with other close combat weapons, Roy’s got a chance to be the bad boy of action figures with his set of equipment displaying espionage and extreme sports.

4. Green Lantern Kyle Rayner- After Hal Jordan was turned evil during the 90′s, artist Kyle Rayner took the Green lantern mantle and produced some memorable and highly inventive constructs. Kyle could be considered the da Vinci of the Green Lantern Corps. His vast imagination has conjured up fully functioning mecha suits to riding a jet ski in mid air, so surely there’s a toy line in their somewhere ?

3. X-men through the ages- Since the X-men are one of Marvel’s oldest and proudest creations, it would be highly nostalgic for collectors and newcomers to play with heroes from the past and present of the team, especially since the teams over the years have had a huge array of power sets, allowing for an equally huge set of special themed playsets.

2. Science Ninja team Gatchaman- The heroes from the Japanese TV show, airing under the aliases in the west of Battle of the Planets and G-Force, this group could be best described as a mash-up of the Batman family being fused with the Power Rangers. Each having their own specialty weapon makes them perfect to market and hopefully great promotion for the troubled film project currently in production.

1. Robin- The brightly colored sidekick has always seemed to suffer from yellow and pink ranger syndrome when it comes to the world of toys as in he always misses out on the cooler weapons and special figures lines. It’s always made more sense to me that Robin would surely receive the sort of tech which would support his mentor rather then him being armed with just a few Batarangs, as is proved Batman doesn’t always succeed and it’s sometimes up to his dark horse of a sidekick to step in and save the day. Doesn’t Robin deserve to get a real figure to showcase his amazing abilities?

Josh Francis is a student journalist at the University of Lincoln with an interest in geeky entertainment journalism, though he loves to cover stories involving buskers.

The decade that started it all

Growing up the 1980s, mine was one of the first generations to have near unlimited options when it came to franchise toys, games and cartoons. That decade lays claim to some of the most iconic toy franchises in history, including Transformers, GI Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and, of course, He-Man and his little sister, She-Ra. Being surrounded by so many choices, all you could do as a kid was pick the one that had the coolest toys and the best cartoon, and that formula didn’t prove fruitful for He-Man. However, Masters of the Universe deserves some credit from a historical stand point.

He-Man and Skeletor in their prime.

Thank you, He-Man

We all owe the He-Man a lot when it comes to toys and cartoons. Masters of the Universe was one of the first cartoons that was produced pretty much for the sole purpose of selling toys to children. Some parental organizations took exception and called foul but we all know how that debate ended. Surprisingly enough, the reason many cartoons from that era had have the now famous PSAs was as a compromise with those groups. In the end, however, without the He-Man cartoon we wouldn’t have been blessed with the likes of Transformers or GI Joe or any of the countless other cartoons from that time…and without the cartoons there would be no toys.

See this kid. That's not me. It's Screech showing off his He-Man love.

Why He-Man failed as an action figure

I was not a fan of He-Man as a kid and that’s because neither the toys, nor the cartoon, were that appealing. I surrounded myself with GI Joes and Transfomers while my best friend next door had a toy chest full of He-Man stuff. I had a few He-Man figures that I received as gifts but they never got much play time because they just weren’t that cool. More often than not, my He-Man figures were portrayed as the evil giants in GI Joe land, partially due to their formidable size in comparison, but also due to their fantasy theme. I’m sorry but in a cage match between giant robots and a barbarian, the robots win hands down. And let’s say that if He-Man managed to survive a chair shot from Optimus Prime, Duke and the rest of the GI Joes would have swooped in and cleaned up the pieces left behind.

But He-Man did corner the market on well-sculpted mustaches.

Lets look at some of the obvious reasons why He-Man was a less than impressive action figure. First off, He-Man doesn’t have many joints and thus couldn’t really be put in many poses. Prince Adam and his buddies could only move their arms in one direction and only at the shoulder. They also didn’t have any knees to speak off, and they could only twist at the waist. So if you wanted Skeletor to kneel or even sit at the table like a good evil lord, he couldn’t do it. He-Man figures just weren’t as versatile as say, GI Joe figures, nor were they as well sculpted. With such limited movement, your own adventures in Eternia were stuck being wrestling matches. Of course, wrestling matches made sense because the figures were pretty big, so it was hard to have them play well with other action figures.

The zoo that was Masters of the Universe

Masters of the Universe also featured some of the weirdest characters that looked as good as they also confused. It seems that unless you were He-Man or Man-At-Arms, you were some crazy, hideous mutant with bizarre powers that weren’t really useful, even in fantasy land. For example, Mekaneck, whose awesome superpower was…a long neck. Yeah, that’s who I want in a fight, giraffe man. And who can forget Mantenna? His ability to make his eyes bug out most certainly struck fear into the hearts of men all around the universe. Even though He-Man’s cronies were ridiculous and unfun, several of them do deserve credit playing with our senses in ways that other figures did not. Figures like Moss Man and Stinkor not only gave our fingers something new to touch, but they also attacked our sense of smell…and Stinkor was a character that really earned his name, PU!

Man-E-Faces was one of the better figures but still big and inflexible.

Masters of the Universe did have some interesting vehicles, albeit few, but they were also quite ugly and otherwise unusable. Especially when you look at what GI Joe offered in terms of accessories and playsets, He-Man just doesn’t stand a chance. The Transformers had little in the way of accessories and vehicles…but wait…oh yeah, they were the accessories and vehicles! You could probably argue that Prince Adam “transformed” into He-Man, but to make that happen you had to buy both figures, so when it comes to bang for your buck, Transformers are the clear winner.

Important does not always mean better

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was incredibly popular and important for millions of children around the world. The series deserves the utmost respect for ushering in the era of toy-shilling cartoons that is still chugging along today. However, just because you’re the first to do something doesn’t mean you’re the best, and when it came to the action figures and toys, He-Man just couldn’t keep up. I want to thank He-Man for everything he did for us, but  when I go into battle, I’ll be teaming up with Transformers and GI Joe.

If I had the money, I'd be a happy kid right now.

Of any line of super hero action figures, why am I going with the Marvel Legends line, specifically? Well, that all goes hand-in-hand with a few things. The first is that I have an affinity toward the Marvel Universe over any other comic-related worlds out there, though I can’t give you a perfect reason as to why that is (at least, not in a short bit here). The second is my need for figures to have good articulation, something the Marvel Legends line shines as a glorious example of. And lastly, Marvel Legends as a toy line is better than any line that has come since it. Should I qualify that hefty claim? I probably should.

Those paying attention to action figures will probably be aware that the DC Universe line of action figures and the Legendary Comic Book Heroes line have both come out since Marvel made such a splash with Legends, both lines with awesome figures featured here and there, but this all proves that Marvel Legends is the best of the best. Why is that? Take a look at the scale for the three action figure lines I just mentioned. You will notice that they all happen to be roughly the same height, something that an action figure fan such as myself goes nuts over, but it can’t just be pure coincidence. Rather, Marvel Legends picked the scale and all detailed comic-related action figures began appearing at that same scale. You don’t get to play “follow the leader” unless you’re the one leading the pack.

Legendary Comic Book Heroes. Look familiar?

Furthermore, every major comic-related action figure line (Marvel Legends, DC Universe, and LCBH) all have one thing else in common: Each wave of figures has a piece to a larger figure, requiring you to collect every figure in the wave to assemble the bigger, more awesome figure.

I want to stop on there for a second, because this is trend I both love and hate at the same time, partly for the same reason. The idea of collecting is just fine by itself and is typically enough to weed out the casual figure fan from the fanatic pretty easily, but being forced to collect every figure in a single wave to create the one larger figure is extremely bothersome, purely because it requires you to buy the figures no one would want otherwise, insuring that we all act as fanatical collectors rather than just casual fans. For instance, let’s say you have a perfectly cool line that features fan favorites such as Captain America, Iron Man, Magneto, and The Thing or something, but in order to assemble the Hulkbuster Ironman suit, you had to collect all of those plus Marrow and Dazzler, two figures you probably wouldn’t want otherwise. But snaps! Hulkbuster Ironman! Gotta have that! Therefore, you have no choice other than buying more figures than you’d like. Sneaky, especially since it works.

Be honest with yourself now, which of these figures would you have normally bought if Apocolypse wasn't a factor?

Still, what’s drawn me back to the Marvel Legends line time and time again is the sheer amount of articulation in each figure. I have a Beast figure that sits on my desk that consists of 37 points of articulation (according to my count), including his forefinger and thumb, duo-jointed knees, and even his mouth. I can spend hours just playing around, posing him without any real purpose, almost as a relaxing pastime, none of which involves physically playing with him in tandem with other action figures. However, this abundance of articulation can have a downside as well. I have a Daredevil action figure that I hate, even though it has just as much articulation as Beast, if not more. Part of my hang-up may be that I was never particularly invested in Daredevil, though the other half is Beast can be made to look cool in just about any pose, whereas Daredevil is too lanky to look good contorted into all manner of silliness.

My Beast doesn't have the coat or glasses though, which would be the only thing that'd make him a better action figure.

Part of me still regrets passing up a Captain America from one of the early lines. I’m still not entirely sure why I never bought him, as I had the money and more than once found myself walking through a Target store while carrying him loosely in my hands, but he isn’t standing on my shelf right now. In fact, the only Marvel Legends figures I have are Beast, Daredevil, and Thor, the last of which comes with a story. And here of course is that story.

Few years ago, before Ironman was cool in the mainstream and people knew that a Thor movie was on the way, I was Christmas shopping for my eight-year-old cousin along with my mom. I found a Marvel Legends Thor, complete with manly beard, battle-axe, and Mjolnir, and decided that this would be the coolest gift any eight-year-old could ever receive. We purchased the action figure and I anxiously waited to see his face as he opened it during our family Christmas exchange. For some reason, upon ripping the wrapping from Thor, he just stared down and grimaced, then looked up and said, “Can I take this back?” I could hardly think of anything to say other than “What?!” but he proceeded to say, “It doesn’t go with any of my other toys; can I return this?” I stood up at this point, grabbing the figure and explaining to him that this was Thor, the god of thunder reborn as a super hero, complete with manly beard, battle-axe, and Mjolnir. Did he care? No. It was still returned without even an apology from his parents.

I know the Odinson and thou art he!

I decided then and there that every single year he would get a Thor-related item as a gift, just out of spite. My first step was to find that same Marvel Legends Thor and buy it for myself, just to remind myself of my Thor-given task. Then, when Christmas arrived again, I was ready to shop for the stupidest item I could find with Thor on it. Thor slippers? Nah, not until the third year. Thor poster? Too simple. Eventually I settled on a Thor bobblehead, probably one of the dumbest gifts I’ve ever decided to give.

I wrapped it up, hardly able to wait for the blessed day when I could watch him unwrap it in confusion once again, sure that his childlike love of the world would begin crumbling under my wicked gaze. Instead, he opens it and screams out, “Cool!” “What?!” I exclaimed for a second year in a row. Somehow he thought this dopey Thor bobblehead was so cool in fact that he ignored every other gift he received that year, immediately opening his bobblehead and bobbling with it. My Marvel Legends Thor stands upon my desk forever reminding me of the time when I was brought to tears two years in a row by a stupid bobble-headed child.

Despite this setback, the Marvel Legends line speaks true to my heart. Given the money, I’d go out and buy every single figure I could get my hands on, but for now I have my few choices, both great and disappointing. But how about you? Are there any Marvel Legends fans among the readers? Let me know with a comment. In the meantime, I’ll just sit here and pose my Beast a few more times. That…that sounded dirtier than it should have.

Want more on action figures? Check these out:

-A Mighty Muggs wish list

-Guide to Collectibles Star Wars Action Figures

-Creating My Own Sagas: Dragonball Z Action Figures

The poor man’s bobblehead

I usually explain Mighty Muggs as bobbleheads without the bobble. They’re vinyl desktop statues portraying some of your favorite franchises like GI Joe, Transformers and Star Wars, complete with accessories. They don’t do much, frankly, except maybe hold your pencil in a most threatening manner, but they’re a little more classy than just having some straight up action figures on your desk. Mighty Muggs are just fun, plus, according to the box, they’re made from “100% recycled awesome.”

I don't think Storm Shadow has ever looked happy

Mighty Muggs are owned by Hasbro and as such come in a very limited range of flavors, namely all the top franchises Hasbro has licenses with. Yes, you can get your hands on Cobra Commander, Optimus Prime, Spider-Man, Indiana Jones, and even Lando, but since Mighty Muggs are squarely aimed at the nostalgia crowd, why not keep going into the depths of pop culture?

Mighty Muggs are probably a bit past their prime (you can now find them on clearance at Target) but here’s a short list of Mighty Muggs I’d pay top dollar for.

The Mighty Muggs wish list

Masters of the Universe. He-Man and his friends seems like a no-brainer, if you ask me. In particular I’d want Man-E-Faces as he was one of my favorite characters. I’m not a big He-Man fan but anyone born prior to 1987 can certainly appreciate Teela standing next to your mousepad.

Metal Gear. With more than 10 titles spanning 20 years, there are plenty of characters in the Metal Gear game world that would lend themselves to these bobble-less statues. Solid Snake is easy but how about Otacon or Revolver Ocelot? Even one of the nameless soldiers would be pretty cool…just make sure he has a giant exclamation point above his head.

Pro wrestling superstars. I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a pro wrestling fan. What kid in 1985 wasn’t saying their prayers and eating their vitamins along with Hulk Hogan? And if only for that reason alone, the classic stars of the WWF deserve some Mighty Muggs. I’d shell out more than a few bucks to have a Macho Man Randy Savage Mighty Mugg or Bam Bam Bigelow.

Arnold and Stallone. Between these two actors there are plenty of memorable characters to turn into these tiny plastic figures. Rocky, Terminator, Total Recall, Rambo…the list can go on. Heck, in Rocky alone you have a few great characters. You’re telling me you wouldn’t want Apollo Creed or Clubber Lang? Just don’t ask for a Kindergarten Cop figure.

Tron. Since the new movie came out last year, Tron is cool again and that’s fine by me. A few Mighty Mugg Tron figures of both classic and new characters would look pretty sweet. Plus they could have some glow-in-the-dark paint on them for the ultimate Tron experience.

How can you say no to that smile?

The possibilities are endless

Those are just a few of the top picks from my wish list. Mighty Muggs doesn’t cover DC Comics, so there’s a whole universe of characters that I’d like to see standing next to my Marvel favorites. Robocop and Star Trek comes to mind too as good candidates, and I think you could get away with some top name rock band Mighty Muggs too. Think about a set of U2, KISS or Guns N Roses Mighty Muggs and tell me that wouldn’t get you some serious cred when your co-workers notice them on your desk at work. Of course, before we start inventing new franchises to tap into, there are a few characters missing from the existing line…like where’s my Lobot?!

We’ll probably never see any of these wonderful characters as Mighty Muggs in the toy aisle any time soon, but thankfully Hasbro has helped us out a bit because if you look in the right places you’ll find they sell blank Mighty Muggs. They come in black or white and are ready for you to paint and create your own Mighty Muggs figure. So in the end I guess there’s really nothing stopping you (or me) from filling in the gaping holes that Hasbro will never be able to fill themselves.

What characters do you think would make good Mighty Muggs figures?

There's something for everyone

Check out more Mighty Muggs photos over on Flickr along with other toys and games.

Brian is a freelance writer that blogs and tweets about toys, video games and other retro fun.

Want more articles where we give our wishlists for toys? Check these out:

-5 Toys of 2010 I Wish I Had When I Was a Kid

-My Top 10 Most Unattainable Toys

-Top 5 Franchises That Should Get An SSB Spinoff

The new GI Joe, still able to wage war in your backyard.

Yo Joe!

GI Joe, along with Star Wars, LEGO and Hot Wheels, was one of the few toys I really cared about as a kid. GI Joe could do no wrong. The cartoon was awesome, the figures were cool and the vehicles were great. I could never have enough of them. Eventually, as with all childhood toys, something new came along (ie, Nintendo) and soon GI Joe was nothing more than a fond memory. Although in my mind, GI Joe was a toy that could never be equaled, and as we all know, toys never die, they just get remade. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion and when I saw these figures in the toy aisle I knew they couldn’t be anywhere near as good as the figures I had growing up. However, I decided to give these new figures a fair chance and got one to compare. I’m doing my best to keep childhood bias aside, but I admit, that’s a hard thing to do.

A new era of action figures

Knives...check. Guns...check. Killer bird...check.

The first thing that struck me about the new GI Joe figures was their price. I picked up Zartan for a whopping $8. Like I said, I haven’t purchased any action figures in a while, but $8 seems steep for a GI Joe guy. However, you do get a lot of bang for your buck, at least with Zartan. Zartan was a figure I always wanted as a kid but never had. Zartan was awesome because he came with a disguise face mask and also had some color changing stickers. Pretty cool. His character on the cartoon was also pretty tough because he could turn invisible and bossed around the Dreadnoks.

It’s all about the accessories

This new version of Zartan comes with a lot of stuff. He has his disguise, same as before, only this time it’s an entirely different head that you snap on and off of a ball joint neck. Zartan also comes with a lot of equipment, and if you’re any sort of GI Joe fan then you know that all the guns and backpacks were as much fun to play with as they were easy to lose. Zartan comes with two machetes, a pistol, machine gun, shoulder sack, a disguise vest, a scary looking hood and a giant bird on a stick. I don’t remember Zartan ever having a pet hawk, but I’ll take it.

While accessories and guns are great to have, it also means there’s a lot to keep track of while in the heat of battle…er, play. One big hang up I had with Zartan’s add-ons was the time and difficulty it took to swap it all out. If you want him to go from scary face paint guy to disguised army guy, you have to take off his head, put his vest on and then put his other head on. Trying to get this Zartan figure changed was like dressing a 4-year-old…he just wouldn’t cooperate. You shouldn’t have to dress your GI Joe, this isn’t Barbie. If I had this figure when I was a kid, I would have geared him up the way I liked most and he would have stayed that way. The sculpt of the disguise head is really cool too (and comes with removable goggles), so I probably would have just turned Zartan into another good guy with swords and a gun, using the extra face as a generic “severed head”. Wardrobe issues aside, his bag does have the cool distinction of being able to carry the extra head, and if I can say so myself, when the other head is in there and staring back at you, it’s a little creepy.

Getting the bends

The best part about these new era GI Joes is their articulation. These guys bend in more ways than you can imagine and I could have only wished to have a figure like this when I was eight. Original GI Joes bent at the knees and elbows with rotating wrists and shoulders while twisting at the waist. This Zartan figure also has double-jointed knees so not only can he kneel but he can touch his toes to the back of his head without a problem. Plus he has jointed ankles so he can point his toes…how useful would that have been for my Cobra Eels?!

All that flexibility is really cool and fun, but the GI Joes seem to have lost their patented kung-fu grip and now twist mid-torso. It’s a little awkward to see a man twist 180-degrees above his belly button, but most of all, this change means the figures no longer use the tiny black rubber bands as they did all those years ago. Back then that little inner-torso rubber band let you disassemble your GI Joes with relative ease allowing you to mix-and-match body parts, which led to all sorts of fun and interesting play time plots.

Zartan, a little more than before.

The torch has been passed

Despite all these changes, today’s GI Joe action figure is still a really good toy even if they are a bit on the expensive side. They look good, they move good and they still have some awesome accessories. By all rights these toys can do twice as much as the figures from the 1980s and that can only be a good thing. However, the fanboy in me is sad to see GI Joe become a little less fantastic with their designs. Yes, GI Joe was all fantasy from the get go but the bright colors and simple designs of the original series made them charming, fun and open to some imagination. Regardless of what has or has not changed in the world of GI Joe toys, it’s great to see that these figures are not just for collectors. You can play with them now just like you did when you were a kid.

You can check out more photos of Zartan over on Flickr.

Brian is a freelance writer that blogs and tweets about toys, video games and other retro geekery.

Want more articles about the Good Old Days of toys? Check these out:

-Forget-Me-Nots: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Figures and Zords

-The Glory of G.I. Joes: A Retrospective

-10 Awesome Ninja Turtle Action Figure Outfits

Boy does that bring back the memories. In fact, why don’t I tell you about them? You remember being a teenager and there were those really pesky kindergarten aged kids in your neighborhood that looked up to you for no adequate reason besides that you were older than them and you had all the latest and greatest products on the market, and then your parents forced you to be nice to them and let them play with your toys and you always had to worry about the brats accidentally damaging them? Yeah, they bugged the ever-living crap out of you, right? Well it just so happens I am completely guilty of being one of those pesky kids. When I was about age six, I had this next door neighbor whose name, quite ironically, was Chris (no relation). He was about 14 years old at the time, and he used his allowance money to buy nearly every piece of the Power Rangers toy line. I would go to check out his room and see this completely epic display of the Rangers and their dinosaurs battling Rita Repulsa’s evil space aliens. What followed was me ringing his doorbell every single day after school to go play at his house. Of course, it wasn’t long before my parents caved and got me a few of my own. So lets recap the different toys that were available back in 1993.

8” Action Figures

What you are looking at here is pure 90’s gold.

Goss, I just now remembered those trippy triangle boxes. But in all seriousness, these action figures were the bomb. Their arms and legs had numerous joints, so you could recreate almost any of the million cheesy poses they had throughout the show. Even their fingers and their feet had joints, and each ranger came with their signature power blaster. Plus to be fair they looked extremely authentic to the series. They also made another line of rangers similar to these toys, but added built in karate chop or kick actions in their limbs. I mean the only slight problem I could have with them is that their eight-inch size makes them eligible to be often mistaken as dolls rather than action figures, which is a big no-no for little boys (heck, even big boys). Not that we can blame people, I mean look at them. They were almost the exact same height as the Barbie dolls.

“Today, Ken’s Dream House! Tomorrow, the world!”

Flip Head Figures

To get the elephant out of the room, yes. The black ranger was black. Will we ever live that down?

I remember these being pretty popular as well. These figures were more on the small side. While they didn’t have as many joints and less mobility then their bigger brothers, they did have this little gimmick where if you press the belt buckle, their heads flip from their secret identity to their ranger helmet. Plus with these figures, each ranger came with both a power blaster and their power weapon of choice, and if you bought them all, you could combine all five weapons to create their super special awesome power blaster.

Just like the show.

Zords

Now for the final blow.

What is there really to say about the original Megazord that won’t sound like a broken record? It was the Devastator of the Power Ranger toy-verse. Five separate robotic dinosaurs that could all fuse into the ultimate battle machine. The battle mode (above) was awesome, but my personal favorite was the tank mode. Yet, as versatile as the Megazord was, it was also very easy to assemble for young children. The more I think about it, the concept of the Megazord as a toy has always been a no brainer, and not just because it looked, at first glance, like a cheep Transformer knock off. If you’ve watched the show just once in your life (and let’s be honest here, who hasn’t), and you saw how the Megazord and its five consecutive parts fit together, there’s no hiding it. It was essentially a giant freaking toy.

Anyone else thought the Dragonzord reminded them of Mechagodzilla?

Wow, that was fun. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers will always hold a strong spot in my childhood memories. It was easily one of, if not THE biggest pop culture phenomenon of the Pre-Pokemon era, and these toys, made in the Golden Age of action figures and robots in disguise, are no exception. In fact I think it’s fair to say these toys have aged a whole lot better than the show they were based off of. While it’s wonderful to look back and remember the Rangers as being this awesome super hero series that totally kicked ass in the 90’s, it’s a whole other experience entirely to actually go back and try to revisit those feelings. I mean sure, the theme song is still epic, but after you finish that… Aye-yae-yae-yae-yae!

Want more Forget-Me-Nots? Check these out:

-Forget-Me-Nots: Chutes and Ladders

-Forget-Me-Not: Halloween-Turned-Toys!

-Forget-Me-Nots: My Lone Ranger Action Figure

Still as awesome as the day I got him.

Ninja Turtles were just a thing I knew and loved all throughout childhood. I worshipped the four ninja teens like they were rock icons and collected every single piece of merchandise I could come across. Naturally, birthday parties were an event I expected at least one new Ninja Turtle action figure to make an appearance, and while I can’t rightfully recollect the exact date I received my Mutating Mike, I can recall that he became invaluable within my life.

The reason behind this was his added range of motion over the standard “classic” Michelangelo figures. Classic Michelangelo could move his arms up and down, and his legs were connected to his body on pivot joints, but other than his head moving side-to-side and his wrists having twist joints, he couldn’t move in any elaborate fashion. That’s where Mutating Mike had the advantage: His shoulders were pivot joints and his feet could bend at the bottom of the shin, meaning he could pose like he was swimming, diving, leaping, kicking, or all sorts of other moves.

Oh look, he met a fellow mutant.

The way I played just demanded more from him in terms of range-of-motion. I had plotlines within my toys, but most of those plotlines eventually broke down into all-out brawls. Dragonball Z overtook the majority of the main characters, like a whole squadron of Buzz Lightyears invading the toy room, but Mutating Mike stayed the center of all the action, thanks in part to those extra ball joints at his shoulders and hips, as well as his flipping feet.

A few of my favorite plotlines included the Turtle Blimp dangling Mike from a rubber band, leaping off a giant cliffside (my bookshelf), and deciding to quit the hero business altogether until the very last second, ala Peter Parker in Spiderman 2.

I guess they were able to work out their differences well enough. Good for them.

I even had a Mutating Donatello from the same line, but he was relegated to the sidekick role alongside Mondo Gecko. Why? I was never quite sure. I had a plotline later on where Mike was prepping Don to take over as the main character should he die for one reason or another (an army of Majin Buus were a looming threat), but Don just couldn’t fill that hero role well enough, therefore Mike was brought back in to save the day.

He was the leader of all my toys and should they wander around my room when I’m away, I have no doubt Mutating Mike is the one up on the box with a loudspeaker in hand instructing the other toys what to do during the next move. Goku’s probably standing nearby trying to teach the other toys how to transform into a Super Saiyan, but Mike will just roll his eyes and remind Goku that he’s a toy. A Japanese toy, but a toy nonetheless.

Fitting in with the new generation may be a challenge though.

Want more Forget-Me-Nots? Check these out:

-Forget-Me-Nots: Tie Fighter

-Forget-Me-Nots: My Lone Ranger Action Figure

-Forget-Me-Nots: My Daredevil Action Figure

10. Triceraton:

A space triceratops? Oh boy, this is gonna be a good lsit!

An anthropomorphized triceratops is pretty cool, but give him some powerful looking blasters and metallic body armor and we’re set for a winner. I had a Triceraton in my collection of action figures and found it to be a perfect villain character since it looked tough and could fling Turtle figures using its horns. Also, anyone who read the original Mirage Comics run of TMNT can attest to how brutal the Triceratons can be, so what better foe for the Turtles to battle? Also, you could pop off his tail, leading to some epic battle wounds. Sold.

9. Hothead:

Why don't we get this amount of detail on kids toys anymore?

I’d never heard of Hothead until Tournament Fighters for the NES, a staggeringly bad fighter with pitiful few fighters and terrible controls. Of the seven fighters, one was Hothead, a dragon. I was never lucky enough to get the Hothead action figure as a kid, but just look at him! It’s a dragon action figure! That’s sweet! And from the looks of it he’s a shogun-style dragon, giving him a classy quality. This is a figure that could work as both a friend or a foe, or even neither, making it versatile. Really though, any figure could go either way, and that’s what made these Also Rans so needed.

8. Doctor El:

Ah yeah, let's hear it for crazy ideas turned into great toys!

We jump from a dragon to an elephant? Yup, and he’s a witch doctor at that. Late in the action figure line was a breeding ground for some truly bizarre additions to the Turtle clan, allowing something as strange but perfect as Doctor El here. It’s the concept here that sells me on the figure, as a witch doctor is a unique character to throw into the mix of already strange characters. Now I had a reason to take Safari Mike into the jungles, or more specifically, I had either an ally or an enemy for him to fight once he got there. Plus, just look at that headdress. Pure win.

7. Monty Moose:

I would totally join the Mounties if Monty was real.

Like the Triceraton before him, Monty Moose was a beast of a figure with antlers. True, seeing a moose dressed as one of the Mounties is incredibly silly, but it resulted in an action figure with vibrant colors and striking features, so I was totally okay with it. Besides, a moose was absolutely not the first option you’d think of for new animals to mutate, so having one appear and be excellent was a treat. Now the mountain-related missions had a perfect addition to the cast, and with action figures, more is always better, no matter how silly the combination.

6. Ray Fillet:

He's like a manta super hero!

Oh yeah, this guy was one of my favorites as a kid. Let’s begin with the name as a starting point for why. Just say “Ray Fillet” a few times. Doesn’t it feel good to say? Okay, maybe just me as a kid, but then comes the second aspect of the figure: He’s a manta ray and therefore has something resembling wings. Sure, mantas are most at home in water, but I didn’t let that stop me from saying Ray could glide through the air on occasion. I even had a Turtles book with this side character appearing, and it was one of my favorite books just because I hardly ever saw the other characters appear, so it was always a treat when they did.

Yet another character who could have survived on his own.

5. Mondo Gecko:

This epitomizes the 90's.

Skateboards! Yes! The majority of my plotlines revolved around Mike and his trusty sidekick, Mondo Gecko, fighting the Foot Clan all by themselves and foiling Shredder without much trouble. The Mondo/Mike team-up made so much sense to me back then and just as much sense to me now seeing as how Mondo appears very much like the outward appearance of Mike’s personality, assuming Mike was a gecko instead of a turtle. Mondo would stand atop his skateboard and cruise around, even gaining flight when it felt like the right thing to do. I have pictures somewhere of me adding Mondo Gecko to Turtle scenes, purely because I considered him the Fifth Turtle instead of that lame Venus chick that showed up in The Next Mutation.

4. Usagi Yojimbo:

Go read Usagi's original comics! They're just as good as TMNT comics!

If you haven’t read any Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Saki, go rectify this error right now. You’ll see a Comic Book Club about the series soon, but for now, SAMURAI RABBIT! Usagi Yojimbo is what makes the Turtle action figures so great, allowing for a crossover to happen mid-comics and then yield wonderful action figures as a result. Usagi is a ronin who travels the land kicking all of the butts with samurai skills, and here is no different. It really is tough to think of something cooler than a samurai rabbit. How can that be topped?

3. Space Usagi:

"AHH! I LOVE MY LIFE!" -Childhood Chris

How about a SPACE SAMURAI RABBIT?! Once I got Space Usagi I felt that Shredder was no longer fit to be an ultimate villain character, at least not while Space Usagi upstaged him in dramatic capes and helmets. He even came with a carrot gun. That’s just- there are no words for how great that is. I’d spend hours just looking over the standard Usagi and then to the space version, noticing the differences and similarities. Pretty much this was just a reskinning of the other version but I didn’t care, Space Usagi was radical.

2. Fugitoid:

The most versatile robot this side of Rosie.

But then along came a robot with attachments galore. Fugitoid first appeared in the comics alongside the Triceratons as an intergalactic fugitive on the run for…something or another, I forget what. In my day-to-day plots, Fugitoid was just a seriously cool robot with a chest that opened up, allowing you to plug in a blaster to the open chest cavity. In fact, you could place the special chest blaster in the chest, plug in his other accessories to the pegs jutting from his arms and legs, and still allow him to hold a space pistol. He also moved unlike any other figures I owned, making him feel special for some reason. But even Fugtitoid couldn’t quite live up to the single greatest figure ever created in the Ninja Turtle toy line.

1. Ace Duck:

Seriously, U of O should drop Donald and use this as their mascot.

He’s a duck. With a bomber’s jacket. And a removable pilot’s hat. And a revolver. And a belt with egg grenades. And he has wings. WINGS. What have I said about action figures that can fly? I hate heights, but I could never get enough of toys that I could make fly using just minimal effort via imagination. Ace Duck looks like he should have had his own comic series, TV show, and action figure line. I want to know more about this character. I only saw him once in the cartoon, and that shot was little more than a TV cameo. I wanted more! But sadly, I’d never get more, save for the adventures I invented in my bedroom. Ace Duck gets my seal of approval for Best Action Figure Ever.

See how awesome Ace Duck can be with a little imagination?

So which figures did I leave out? Did you have some favorites from the classic toy line that you played with over and over again? What about Genghis Frog? Or Metalhead? How about Wingnut? Tell me your favorites. In the meantime, I think it’s about high time Ace Duck flies again. Away I go!

Want more articles about action figures? Check these out:

-The Toys Are Back In Town Yet Again: Toy Story 3 Toys

-I Am Still Iron Man: Iron Man 2 Toys

-Creating My Own Sagas: Dragonball Z Action Figures

Chris’ Top Ten Favorite Video Game Soundtracks:

The very first of October began with a continuation of my previous lists regarding video game music. This time I went even broader and ranked my favorite soundtracks in video games. and oddly enough, it somehow coincided with an interview Kyle and I did with Daniel Floyd and James Portnow.

Gus’ Top 10 DBZ Relationships:

Because who can ever get enough Dragonball Z?

We were treated to a Week of Gus with a three-part Top 10 List involving Dragonball Z, one of my favorite subjects. In classic Gus fashion, his article was too long to post in a single day, so it was broken into three parts. It’s really a creative read, so go look into it if you want more DBZ-related goodness.

Just Stay Dead: A Review of Dead Rising 2:

Jumping into the busy game-release month, I took on the task of reviewing Dead Rising 2. In a nutshell, it’s better than the first game, but if you hated the first game, you’ll hate this one, too.

A Miserable Pile of Secrets: A Review of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow:

Next up, the new 3D Castlevania game. I really wanted to play it, but a lot of reviewers have complained about poor cameras and downright bad level design. Still, Patrick Stewart as a voice actor hasn’t steered me wrong yet.

Call of D-Oops, I Mean A Review of Medal of Honor:

I guess The Dude is into modern warfare now. Cool.

One of the largest titles to release in October, Medal of Honor, turns out to be exactly what we thought it’d be: A totally decent game that you won’t remember by this time next year. We also learn that for some reason, because I’m unprofessional, I eat crap sandwiches. Learn something new every day I suppose.

Monkey’s Life-Changing Trip: A Review of Enslaved: Odyssey To The West:

Gus comes back and reviews a game I honestly wasn’t paying attention to, but now really want to own: Enslaved: Odyssey To The West. Turns out it’s an awesome game that everyone should play and I want it for Christmas.

Chris’ Ten Favorite Video Game Trilogies:

Because I can never get enough lists, I give a rundown of ten video game series that stand out as examples of trilogies that don’t fail at any step. And then Gus harangues me for not picking some other choices. Thus is life.

Bad Games That Should Have Been Great: Fable II:

I hated Fable II. I thought it was a terrible game. So much so in fact that I decided to write a lengthy rant to just that effect. Even so, I held myself back from mentioning the shimmering trail of failure, the annoying gargoyles, or utter uselessness of doing anything in the game. It’s one of my favorite articles though, so please do read it.

Yet Another Pokemon Black & White Preview:

New Pokemon, but plot? Not so much.

Because just one preview isn’t enough, I do a second one. Pokemon Black & White Versions have now been out in Japan long enough to know everything about them, so I was capable of judging the game in a more in-depth manner. Read on to see what you can expect from the new adventure like the old adventures.

10 Awesome Ninja Turtle Action Figure Outfits:

Finally following up my first TMNT action figure list for over a year ago, I dive into a listing of ten really awesome Ninja Turtle action figures. I’m always into writing about Ninja Turtles, so read it if you are, too.

Forget-Me-Nots: Halloween-Turned-Toys!

Kyle returns at last with a new article, this month covering some of the perks of Halloween costumes: The accessories. He highlights a few choices of Halloween props that become excellent toys year-round, so give it a read.

And that’s all we saw in October. What’s up for November? Well, a review of Fable III is up early, as well as a list from Gus. Later we’ll have another edition of Bad Games That Should Have Been Great regarding Star Fox Adventures, a list of bad things comics do, Tips From a Grandmaster on Super Mario Bros 3, and who knows what else! Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for new articles because you never really know what gold we’ll farm next.

And a huge thank you to The Virtual Ninja Turtle Museum for their help with images and a clear archive. I wouldn’t have been able to pull off this article without them!

10. Slap Shot Leo:

Turtles participating in sports? How absurd!

The Turtles had a bunch of figure lines featuring them in sports uniforms along with the appropriate equipment to go along. Slap Shot Leo was a figure I was totally into as a kid because hockey seemed really cool to me, even more so that Leo had ice skates on. Haven’t I made it pretty apparent before that action figures with some mode of built-in transportation are cool? Ice skates were cool to me. And even better, this is hockey we’re talking about, so it would make perfect sense for Leo to go straight from the game to busting heads, assuming it’s not within the same game. Go hockey!

9. Raph, The Magnificent:

Abra kadabra, and now your nose is BROKEN!

If we remember my Ridiculous Turtle Action Figures list, I placed Mike dressed as a clown pretty high. He was terrifying on some strange level, but Raph The Magnificent is the opposite: He’s awesome on some strange level. Perhaps it is the rabbit concealed in his hat. Perhaps it is his rockin’ mustache. Perhaps it’s just seeing a Ninja Turtle with coat tails. But on the most basic level, these are ninjas we’re talking about, and adding magic only functions to make them better at being ninjas. Raph with the power of illusion only makes sense in some glorious universe.

8. TD Tossin’ Leo:

The NFL would be so much cooler if there were more ninjas actively playing.

Coming from the same figure line as Slap Shot Leo, TD Tossin’ Leo is even more aggressive, even missing a bunch of teeth and wearing a ripped-up jersey. It’s clear that he plays full-contact football, none of this two-hand-touch crap. Suckers got smeared when Leo picked the long bomb, and though we never got Runningback Mike or Defensive Line Don, Leo was enough to suffice the violent sports urge all young boys had and most never grew out of. Even cooler: he came with a full helmet. The more accessories the better, and an easy-on, easy-off helmet was more than welcome for a TMNT action figure. I don’t know who’d win in a fight between TD Tossin’ Leo and Slap Shot Leo, but it’d be a good fight.

7. Power-Punchin’ Rocksteady:

Moma said knock you out. Also, mama was a rhino, so she knew these things.

Immediately upon seeing Rocksteady decked out in boxing gear my brain jumped to Punch-Out!! Boxing, yet another sport, is also a sport based ENTIRELY around beating the ever-loving crap out of your opponent. Sure, matches can be decided on a point system, but no one remembers those as fondly as matches won with a TKO or a referee running in and saying, “No more or he’ll bleed out of his ears!” Strapping boxing gloves to Rocksteady’s mitts only allows him to punch harder, sending Turtles sprawling. He’s like King Hippo, Balrog, and TJ Combo mixed into one excellent rhino-shaped package!

6. Safari Michelangelo:

Gold star if I get through this caption without making a lame Australian joke. And success!

Truth be told I probably wish I’d grown up in Australia. I have no clue why, but I love the accents and the outback outfits. What the image up there doesn’t show are the various accessories Mike had to go with his outback safari, the best of which was probably a huge gun connected to a water-filled backpack (shaped like an angry monkey of course), which when squeezed sprayed water at whichever enemies seemed to really hate water. Hey, Shredder wears a bunch of metal, and that stuff rusts, so sure, water works. He also came with a hunting knife, a bit of a shock to me. It was shocking because most times any Ninja Turtle came with a knife or a gun, it’d be shaped like something wacky. In this instance it just looked like a real knife. Sweet!

5. Creature From The Black Lagoon Leo:

Who knew that the creature from the Black Lagoon was actually just a turtle?

Not one but two action figure lines came out with Turtles as Universal Studios Monsters, and of the eight produced, Creature From The Black Lagoon Leo is the best. Really, all he looked like was a further-mutated Ninja Turtle, but I was all for it. Bigger hands for smacking and red eyes for glaring made this a must-have for me. And I never owned it! What a disappointment my childhood was! Oh well, at least I owned the four remaining figures on this list.

4. Pro Pilot Don:

Fighter pilots are awesome and nearly extinct. Enjoy them while you can!

Of the two Mutant Military series released, the first was immensely better seeing as how it had Raph dressed as a green beret, Leo decked out in Desert Storm attire, and Mike sporting the naval look, machinegun-toting bird in tow. But those three paled in comparison to Pro Pilot Don, a figure that came with a pretend parachute that strapped to his backpack. It looked pretty simple, but using my superior childhood imagination, I imagined that the parachute allowed him to fly. And as the rule goes: Flying toys are always better than non-flying toys. Also included was a helmet with a breathing mask, just like he’d wear in a fighter jet. Oh, and each Mutant Military figure came with a miniature American flag. Kind of brings a tear to your eye, doesn’t it?

3. Pterano Don:

He comes from a prehistoric land down under. ...Oh wait, dang it!

What’s the rule? “Flying toys are always cooler than non-flying toys.” Pterano Don is what you get when you mix Donatello with a pterodactyl, meaning that Donny gets huge wings and a head that looks like he can rend metal like a can-opener. Pterano Don is a beast, pure and simple. I played with him so much that one of the wings fell off and I had to reattach it/play less roughly with my super awesome Ninja Turtles. He was even quite a bit larger in stature and height than all the other Turtles figures I owned, making him a more commanding presence in the ongoing plotlines my homemade series would endure. Just looking at the other figures in the line, all of which were crossed with dinosaurs, only Don stands out as a really cool action figure. The others feel lacking. Except maybe mixing Shredder with a tyrannosaurus, though that only really succeeded in making him look like a Street Shark reject.

2. Cave Turtle Raph With Tubular Pterodactyl:

Please take note of the mask on the pterodactyl, because the pterodactyl is also a ninja.

Yes, more flying toys and yes, more pterodactyls. The Turtles had a series where they were prehistoric in nature and rode around on happy-go-lucky dinosaurs Flintstones style. Once I got Raph I was all set as he came with the pterodactyl, making every adventure he starred in comprised of 95% flying and 5% getting to his pterodactyl so he could continue flying. Eventually the harness strap broke off the pterodactyl, meaning no turtle could really ride him anymore. I was more or less fine with this and allowed him to stand alone as his own character, talking and wisecracking just as you’d expect. So what could possibly outdo two pterodactyls in a row?

1. Super Don:

The greatest thing ever! Too Much Awesome!

Try adding Batman to the equation. Yeah, that sure does spike things in the awesome department by a wide margin, doesn’t it? Of this series, Don was garbed in Batman-like attire whereas Mike looked vaguely Superman-esque. Both were great, but Don came with a wrist-attached baterang-launcher (it was fake but it looked cool). I played like it was a grappling hook, a laser, and a stun gun, and each time I loved it more. But could he fly? Yes, whenever I felt like allowing him to fly. This is just one cool toy, the likes of which we may never see again.

These are just ten of dozens of awesome outfits the Turtles have worn over the years. Do you have a favorite that I didn’t mention? Leave a comment and let me know. In the meantime, I need to figure out a way to craft a Super Don outfit in time for Halloween. Excelsior!

Want more Ninja Turtle articles? Check these out:

-Forget-Me-Nots: The TMNT Pizza Power Board Game

-Go Green Machine! A Ninja Turtle Video Game Retrospective

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Best Action Figures Ever

There he is. He could kick all of the butts.

We’ve hit our Friday of the week, and at the moment, Kyle and I are rather busy with some big things (we’re recording a separate, legit podcast with a very special guest). That means I’m going to keep today light and nostalgic, which lends itself to a Forget-Me-Nots, the segment Kyle came up with but we haven’t been doing enough with. For today then, join me as I remember one of my favorite toys as a youth: My Lone Ranger Action Figure.

Time for the timewarp. WOOSH! Okay, wavy lines and spacey music just kicked in, and now we’re in Chris’ childhood circa 1989. My grandmother, Grandma Barbara, probably one of the greatest grandmas the world has even seen, had one of the greatest rooms in the world known only as “The Toy Room.” You can probably surmise what was in this room, but for me, one of the coolest items was a simple Lone Ranger toy from even before I existed.

This is how he looked in my head.

The toy was nothing complex. Lone Ranger’s head could turn, his arms would move at the shoulder (though they were completely loose, so they couldn’t be put up and stay there), and his legs bent at the knee and the hip. Because his joints were so loose he could hardly even stand up, and he was missing his guns or his horse Silver, but for some reason I couldn’t get enough playtime with him.

I ended up taking the Lone Ranger toy from my grandmother, either by accident or design, and incorporated him into my daily routine. The most basic storyline I came up with involved the Lone Ranger and three G.I. Joes I owned, one of which was Lifeline. For the first few months I had the Lone Ranger fight the G.I. Joes until Lifeline became a good guy as well, making him my official Tonto. Does that make sense? Of course not, but I was five.

My plots were better than theirs.

As time went by, I eventually added more Joes to the mix, always as bad guys. More and more Joes showed up with new powers and such until I got one that looked like Chuck Norris, making him the ultimate villain, far beyond the Lone Ranger’s capabilities. This meant I had to add a new hero character, and because my child logic was unbiased, the only black Joe I had became the new most powerful and therefore coolest character in my storyline. I’d have the Lone Ranger hold back, instead just training the new guy (Lifeline was naturally jealous), until he had to step in and show he was still the strongest, ala Master Splinter. The Joes never did relent, but unfortunately my series was canceled before the final inevitable battle, so we’ll never know what happens.

While the Lone Ranger has become the Woody of my life, I know he’s still there in my closet should I ever decide to finish the fight. But there’s no way I’d ever let him go and pass him down to someone less than my own flesh and blood. Hopefully my son finds him as awesome as I did.

These are some pretty high quality toys right here. Toy Story's still got it.

I don’t want to jinx this, but I’d really like to see Toy Story 3 receive a perfect 100% at Rotten Tomatoes, thus making the Toy Story series have a perfect score. While it’s most likely not going to happen since at least one reviewer will be jaded for no reason other than to cost it a perfect score, it’ll still be a hugely successful movie. And you know what that means? Merchandise! Toy Story has always had toys tying in, I know you’re shocked, and now that the new movie is a few days away I think we should talk about those, don’t you? So let’s go to infinity and…let’s, let’s just go.

The Shotgun Approach to Toys

Toy Story has a huge strength in merchandising that may also be it’s greatest weakness: The basic premise involves toys without any inherent theme. What this means is that the majority of the toys from the movie are independent to their genre, such as a space ranger, a cowboy, a Mr. Potato Head, or Barbie. This creates a shotgun effect in terms of a target market. While you’re sure to find at least one product that interests a kid, you generally won’t find one that’s interested in ALL the toy line and feels compelled to buy each and every item that has the Toy Story logo stamped somewhere.

Buzz Lightyear has wings. I'm happy. What more can I say?

Yes, there will be some kids that fall into that unlikely category of Toy Story brand loyalty, but generally you will find kids interested in one sort of toy and coming across a Toy Story-related toy in that area of interest. For instance, if you tend to love dinosaurs and collect dinosaur toys of all sorts, you’ll probably think the new Rex toy is awesome, but may not have any real interest in a Woody action figure.

However, it becomes apparent that the Toy Story brand realizes this weakness and decided to make sure that the various toys were excellent in their category. The Barbie and Ken pack is exactly what you’d think it is, and we all know that Barbie is pretty darn popular already. Jessie the cowgirl has a doll aimed specifically at girls, just as you’d expect the doll from the movie to be crafted.

Yup, that looks like Barbie and Ken alright. Very 90's. I like it.

Probably the big standout is the 12’’ Buzz Lightyear as it’s, well, Beyond Awesome. It comes in the spaceship box from the movies, has all the features the movie Buzz Lightyear has, and isn’t over $50. They’ve had these sort of Buzz Lightyear super toys out since the first movie, but they’re really stepping up their game to make them even closer to exact movie replicas this round, meaning your kid probably wants one for Christmas/birthday/Wednesday.

I want a few of these, just so I can see Buzz Lightyear fight with Buzz Lightyear because there can be only ONE!

The great equalizer may just be the LEGO sets. Since it’s LEGO, there’s no need to care about the specific genre. LEGO seems to just have one genre anyway and that genre is LEGO. The downside to the LEGO sets? The LEGO prices. No surprises, but still, good Lord LEGO, a little sympathy already. Haven’t we loved you enough over the years for a little price break?

For some reason this is more expensive than that ultimate Buzz Lightyear I just mentioned. How'd that happen?

I most suggest the action figure line if you’re looking for a solid gift for someone into Toy Story. Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and the rest are crafted rather well, as has been the case in the past. Woody will always look a bit out of place as a stiff plastic toy since he’s intended to be made of cloth, but the Buzz Lightyear action figures consistently deliver. Don’t forget my number one action figure rule: Toys that can “fly” are always cool. And look at that, Buzz Lightyear has wings. Sold. Despite this advice, I’m pretty sure the most popular Toy Story 3 product will be the Toy Story 3 Silly Bandz since those are also stupidly popular right now.

It really doesn’t matter if you mean to buy a Toy Story 3 product or not. If you have a child or have to buy a gift for anyone under the age of 10 this year, you’ll undoubtedly encounter something that says Toy Story on it somewhere. Thankfully you really can’t go wrong in terms of quality, so thank your lucky stars.

Certainly a handsome devil, isn't he?

I got into comics when I was about thirteen or fourteen. While perusing the video store, I found this extremely detailed figure packaged with a reprint of classic Daredevil issue #167.

Being on a retro kick, I set up the character on its display stand in a pose that illustrated the eighteen points of articulation, and displayed it on top of my stereo speakers for my vinyl record player. It sat opposite my model kit of the De Lorean from “Back to the Future.” Both were backlit by a green lava lamp.

I remember this figure for being the first toy that I thought of as a display piece. It was my teenage witticism to treat it like a controversial piece of art from my personal collection.

Suddenly I started reading Toy Fare magazine, I had more merchandise to ogle at the comic book store, and I had more things to talk about during a video game marathon with Chris Pranger. In a way, this figure helped me write for this site.

There were two versions of this figure at the time. One was a brightly-colored, Saturday morning version of the comic book superhero. The other was based on the red leather and biker-booted suit that Ben Affleck pulled off in the 2003 film. I had the film version, because I liked how much more gritty it was.

The man of the hour, or rather, the Iron Man of the hour. See what I did there?

Tony Stark’s technological marvel is back with plenty of articulation, tons of oversized weapon attachments, and each with a personality of its own.

The figure series consists of a wide variety of Iron Man and War Machine suits, all lying out like a roll of schematics. It conjures a funny image of Tony Stark’s garage littered with Iron Man armor: white for snow, blue for underwater, black for stealth, etc.

Each different suit has a detailed, imaginative name, such as Iron Man Mark I, War Machine Tech Armor. Collectors will be gratified by the different color tones and the continuity of the suit evolution.

Kids (or just guys like me who like to take things apart for fun) will find the detachable missile launchers, guns and armor plating quite amusing.

A really great idea that Hasbro committed to for the movie tie-in is the variety of source material that the action figures come from. Figures based on the original comic books yield a trim, wiry Iron Man. Figures based on the first movie have a gritty, bulky detail. The figures for the new movie are sleek, and have most of the big attachable guns.

Something the figures lack is variety in characters. You can have Iron Man and War Machine seven times over, but there are no villains for them to fight with.

There’s a slightly odd addition to this toy line, in the form of Iron Racers. These are stationary figures attached to a pull-and-release vehicle. There’s the Armor Cycle, the Quantum Quad, the Turbo Racer, etc. Since this seems to be a trend for every superhero figure (the Fantastic Four, Spiderman, and Batman have all gotten pull-and-release quads and motorbikes), I would suggest avoiding these, and buying a Batman version from the bargain bin instead. It’s the same toy.

Essentially, these figures are exactly what an Iron Man fan would expect: it’s all about design concepts, color schemes, and attachable equipment. Great fun for the Howard Hughes in all of us, just like Tony Stark. Thankfully, you don’t have to have wallets as deep, though.

The different concepts are exciting, but don’t expect to find a good villain. Avoid the Iron Racers, stick with the individual figures. Kids and adults can find the cool fun in the different versions of a great superhero. I might just bring my Mark IV Iron Man to the IMAX showing of “Iron Man 2.”

In today's episode, we give you some of our personal tips about board games, as well as some handy suggestions for the toy industry.

After a slightly longer wait that we meant, we finally have the second episode of the Too Much Awesome Podcast starring Kyle Martinak and Chris Pranger. In this episode, we talk about video games a little more, toys once more, and make sure to go into greater detail about board games. Specifically, we gives some of our personal strategies to winning at board games, as well as some suggestions for Monopoly and the most effective way to play Clue.

The audio is a higher quality now that we made sure not to use Kyle’s laptop, and we were careful to keep the time only slightly over an hour. Let us know what you’d like to hear more about from the podcast and we’ll be sure to listen. We’re still finding the best mix here, so help us out with a comment.

To download Episode 2, click the link here.

I wish I had this as a kid. Doesn't that just scream "epic?"

It’s been a while since I’ve delved into the action figures of my past. It’s also been a while since I’ve mentioned Dragonball Z, hasn’t? Why not mix the two together then and tell you all about DBZ action figures? I think I’ll do just that. Here I go!

Only In Japan

DBZ really started to hit big when I was in 6th grade. I wasn’t yet into the series, but I was aware of it. I’d see toys and action figures popping up in stores whenever I’d go searching for something cool, but it wasn’t until 7th grade when I got hooked and needed my DBZ fix with action figures. Sadly, the only available toys at the time were really, really bad Japanese imports. How bad? We’re talking two points of articulation and then only at the shoulder. Not a pivot joint, just an up-down motion. I bought two originally: A Piccolo and a Super Saiyan Goku. Both had removable clothes (Goku his shirt and Piccolo his cape and turban) but not much going for them. Oh, actually, their feet could move from side to side, which was totally useless.

The two figures I mostly saw in stores were Kid Trunks and Krillin with hair. Kid Trunks hadn’t appeared in the series yet and Krillin wouldn’t wear the new outfit until that point in the series also. I found it incredibly strange that they came with guns that the characters couldn’t even hold. Their hands were fists, so the only way to use the accessory was to balance it on their arms. I choose not to buy any more stupid DBZ figures.

And Then Things Got Better

Oh, one of the "last figure hanging" figures of the line.

That’s why I was so happy to learn that Irwin Toys would be making new toys for the current US releases. I got pumped until I saw the first series. Radtiz? Okay, he’s gotta be there. Yajirobi? Oh…kay, sure, put him in. Master Roshi? I’m assuming Goku’s here somewhere, right? Nope, he wasn’t in the first series. Or the second series. In fact, it took them until the third series of action figures to include Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo. Finally! But still, no Super Saiyans just yet.

Everything after that just got better. I was careful to watch for when the next series of action figures came out, ready to buy my favorite characters. Surprisingly, some of the best action figures in the Irwin line were of more obscure characters. Take for example Evil Buu, by which I mean the gray version that appeared for maybe half of an episode. They made an incredibly great figure for that character. Android 16 also got a great action figure that included a removable hand, just like the character could do in the show. Nice! My favorite Goku turned out to be the Super Saiyan Goku dressed in Saiyan armor, seen only for a few episodes while he was training. It was just great.

This was easily my favorite DBZ figure right here. Super Vegitto was perfect.

But there were some definite misses, too. Fat Buu, for example, was terrible. His legs couldn’t move due to them being stuck in the solid plastic of his pants. Piccolo could have his turban removed but not his cape, meaning a lack of moveability. Some of the biggest disappointments were Super Saiyan 3 Goku, who looked deformed and didn’t have much articulation, and Kid Buu, who looked entirely unimpressive for what should have been a great end to the line. Regardless, Vegitto didn’t disappoint.

Again, why wasn't this the Goku available to me when I was a kid?

After DBZ ended I sort of lost track and interest in the figures, though I saw that Jakks did a lot of great things, adding some awesome articulation. These days if you want good figures you’ll have to go looking online, sticking with the Bandai Hybrid Mega Articulated models, otherwise the only thing you’ll be able to find are action figures based off Dragonball: Evolution, i.e. really stupid toys.

I don't know why they even bothered.

I wish I could justify buying more DBZ action figures. I’d really like to, but I have no place to put them yet. Also, the thrill of the hunt for a really cool action figure is lessened somewhat when I have to just find it online. But I still have probably close to 50 DBZ action figures waiting in a box at home. What about you? Did you buy some really awesome DBZ action figures at some time? Let me know with a comment. In the meantime I’ll be searching for a way to travel back to my childhood.

Need more for a DBZ fix? Check out these articles:

-The DBZ Technigue Guide

-A Look Back on DBZ

-Ten Worst Instances of Filler in DBZ

I don't think I'll ever get tired of these people.

True Fact: I grew up in the United States of America. I’m not trying to brag or anything, it’s just simple stating of fact. Why this is important to The Simpsons has to do with what The Simpsons is to me: An American Institution. This in no way means that I believe The Simpsons is only for Americans. Oh heavens no, The Simpsons is a show for the entire world. It’s been aired all over, only managing to tick off Australia, Brazil, and a few other countries of the world that I can’t be bothered to remember. The real special aspect of the show is how unimaginable it is to think of a Sunday night at 8 without The Simpsons. It’s into its 21st season now, with the 20th season just released on DVD (and which I just finished watching). The show has been around for 20 years and here’s how I remember it.

It Can’t Just Be My Childhood I’m Remembering

It interests me that for the 20th anniversary of the longest running primetime cartoon in history, a 20th season DVD comes out with pretty much nothing special about it. Granted, I loved every episode more than I figured I would, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the only special feature included in the “Extras” portion of the DVD: A sneak preview of the 20th anniversary special that isn’t included on the special 20th anniversary 20th season DVD. That’s the sort of thing I’d expect to be parodied on The Simpsons. Otherwise seasons 1-12 are available with each having a bevy of special features and the like. I’m just sort of sad that there is an 8-year gap of seasons we have to slowly close.

I bet you had no clue who did it, did you?

My original concept for a Simpsons retrospective was going to be a top ten list of my favorite episodes, but I couldn’t easily identify those from the over 450 choices open to me. If I had to pick, the “Who Shot Mr. Burns” plotline may be my favorite, and any time Sideshow Bob appears I’m quite happy, but I couldn’t choose a conclusive top ten without turning it into a top 20, 30, or just a number one show listing.

Instead we have my ramblings about the series. As a kid my parents were skeptical about The Simpsons. They sat down with me a few times and watched some new episodes with me, laughing the whole time. After that they seemed completely fine with letting me watch, so I made sure to watch the series in syndication religiously. I tried to watch it at my grandparent’s house once, only to have my grandpa tell me he didn’t think it was a good show. “I don’t like how the son backtalks the father,” he says. “That’s disrespectful.” Then we watched an episode anyway and he laughed the whole time, making it welcome in his house as well.

This image was everywhere on merchandise, so much so that the actual show had to make jokes about it constantly.

I never saw Bart Simpson as a model for myself to follow. Rather, I understood he was exemplifying everything I really shouldn’t be, despite how much I’d have enjoyed it. I’m a lot older now and thankfully I never became a Bart Simpson. Now I’m a Homer Simpson and too gleefully S-M-R-T to know that I’m nowhere near my potential as an American.

When Burger King had a Simpsons promotion way, way back in the day, I managed to acquire all five family members in “plush” cuteness. And by “plush,” I mean that their bodies were soft but their plastic heads could crack a child’s skull with enough blunt force applied gradually over time (no I didn’t try this on anyway you know of). What was always weird was how Bart’s shirt was never red on any merchandise I could find. He’s always worn the same red shirt/blue shorts combo on the show for 20 years, but merchandise with his likeness frequently had him wearing a blue shirt. I had no clue why they did this but it always bugged me as a kid.

I actually prefer these little figurines over the main figure series.

By the time the collectable figures were coming out I was too busy playing with Ninja Turtles to spend any money collecting figures from a comedy program. I was still watching the show every single night, but I had no desire to collect the collectables. Regardless of my lack of participation, The Simpsons figurines are a collector’s dream with each new year getting a handful of wonderful additions. By now you’d have to plunk down some hearty cash to be caught up to the current series.

Why the heck hasn't this been turned into an HD remake already?

Instead of the figures, I was busy messing with the video games. The saddest part of all this is that in the 20 years the show has been on, only one Simspons video game has come out that’s been any good: The Simpsons Arcade Game. I played Bart vs The Space Mutants and Bart vs The World on the NES and hated them due to the extremely poor controls, but if you love the Angry Video Game Nerd you already knew that. Something about the arcade game was just magical. I played it into the ground, even managing to beat it, and let me tell you, that’s quite a feat. I still can’t figure out for the life of me why it hasn’t been ported over to Xbox Live by now.

Oh, and I also saw the movie twice in a day. Is that sad?

I keep hearing from people that The Simpsons should end already. I disagree on the basis that we need a Simpsons to exist, even if you don’t find it funny anymore. It’s like the evening news at this point. There’s just something comforting about knowing that every Sunday I’ll see the same family from my childhood waiting for me whenever I feel like visiting. Why would you really want to take that away?

I wish I'd been the one to think up this image first, but I'm not.

Happy Saturday everyone! February is ending in the next day or so and that means the beginning of the newest feature here at Toy-TMA: The Too Much Awesome Podcast!

It had been my hope to someday start doing a podcast here. The plan was for last month to be the first episode, but issues with cars (my car specifically) delayed production for a week. After some technical difficulties with the mic, the podcast was recorded and uploaded without any futher troubles (save for a cat scratching in the background).

The link for the podcast can be found here. Once you click the link, you’ll be taken to Mega Upload, a site for files too large to post anywhere else. Type in the code shown to download the file and then wait for it to be cued up for download. Once it’s ready, download the file and listen when and where ever you’d like!

The goal is to have at least one new episode a month, usually falling on the last weekend of the month. It ended up being over 90 minutes, but we’ve got a lot to talk about, so it works. We’ll do our best to improve the sound quality as right now you have to turn the sound up fairly high to hear us clearly, but for now, please enjoy the premiere episode of the Too Much Awesome Podcast!

These are a bit newer, but still cool.

We’ve been over how much I love Ninja Turtles at least twice. You may also remember a long while back I had a thing or two to say about the G.I. Joe toys based on the movie. But it’s taken me this long to realize that what I really need to do is talk about the real G.I. Joes and why they rival Ninja Turtles for Greatest Action Figure status. Ready? Oorah!

The Second Greatest Action figures of all Time

I have to come clean about this here: I didn’t own a ton of G.I. Joes when I was a kid. I had a few, such as a Lifeline I got from a mail-in cereal thing, and a high-ranking sort of guy whose name I can’t for the life of me remember or find on the internet. You want to know what figure from my G.I. Joe plotlines I used the most? A Lone Ranger action figure I swiped from my grandma. Yup, for some reason, I had the Lone Ranger fighting G.I. Joes on a regular basis. I had turned every G.I Joe into a villain (except for Lifeline, who was the Lone Ranger’s incompetent sidekick) despite the fact that they were branded as Real American Heroes. And they were still awesome.

I had this, minus the horse and guns. Yup, somehow made him lamer yet cooler.

I had a total of two official G. I. Joe figures for much of my childhood, plus two full-size dolls. I also had a few off-brand G. I. Joes that you wouldn’t be able to tell apart from the real thing, and that got me by just fine. Also, of course, I had a friend with dozens of the real thing, so any time we got together it was an hour of deciding who gets to play with which figure in which vehicle at which base with what weapons, giving us maybe a few minutes of playtime, tops. And once again, they were still awesome.

Tons of Variety, Only One Childhood

That’s one thing that appealed to me most about the Joes: The amount of variety in play. There were tons of vehicles and weapons to mix around and give to whomever you felt. While none of the Joes could really grip anything worth a darn, it was still cool to hand a sniper rifle to the medic and place him in a tank. All of my G.I. Joe-related stuff came from garage sales and things my grandma found in her day-to-day of finding awesome things for me to play with. Pretty sure that was her day job. At one point she gave me a G. I. Joe tank she found at a garage sale that somehow transformed into a fortress. It was broken and the pieces were just in a bag all willy-nilly, but that didn’t stop me from reassembling it and finding some use. Than again, what kid can’t figure out how to convert something into a tank? Honestly?

Heck, I made Lifeline seem cool. Behold the wonder of a child's imagination.

So what was my favorite thing about G. I. Joes? They have the perfect level of articulation. Seriously, those things are built with kids at heart. The midsection was the best part of this articulation since it gave such smooth move-ability as it used a rubber band to hold the torso and the legs together. The downside was that it used a rubber band to hold the torso and the legs together. One of my proudest moments came when I repaired a broken Chuck Norris-looking G. I. Joe with a standard rubber band I found. He went from being a standard evil character that couldn’t move to the strongest, most dangerous character in my plots.

I can’t really pinpoint what it is about G. I. Joes that everyone loves so much as my experience is limited to what I grew up with. Still, I want to know what other people did as kids, or even now. What was your favorite aspect about G. I Joes? Did you have a whole army or just a lone soldier? Or did you absolutely hate the Joes? Even if you don’t currently own a Joe, you could get one for under $10. When you have a memory to retell, leave a comment and let me know.

Also, I’m proud that I went a whole G. I. Joe article without using the phrase “Go Joe!” Oh wait…dang it.

Infinite articulation or zero? Time to Think Deep.

It’s been a few weeks since I Thunk Deep, so it seems about right to try my hand and brain at something a bit new and completely different than the last Let’s Think Deep article. As you may recall, last time was an elementary foray into quantum physics.

This time I’ve been thinking more about action figures and exactly what about them makes them so wonderful. Generally you’ll hear the phrase “points of articulation” thrown around like it has some sort of inherent meaning. But hey, does it? How many points of articulation does an action figure need? Can you have too many? Let’s Think Deep, shall we?

A Trip Down Memory Lane

When I was a kid (it really wasn’t all too long ago, assuming I ever stopped being one), I wasn’t all too concerned about how pose-able my figures were. I had my Ninja Turtles, some G.I. Joes, and a random assortment of toys from everywhere. For the longest time things were good. I didn’t have any sort of rules for playing in terms of what could and could not happen. If I wanted something to fly, then sure, it could fly. I was under the concept that any of my figures could gain flight whenever they put their arms up, though that was only during specific plotlines or if they had trained to do it and such. Anyway, I’m on a random tangent there. Let’s get back to thinking deep.

Very few points of articulation, but so cool. Why was that?

The point I was going toward is that posing my toys was never very important. Heck, even having them stand up wasn’t required most of the time, as usually they’d just be lying down when they weren’t in my hands. Besides, it’s pretty difficult to make an action figure stand up on pillows or a mattress. It was very rare when I’d throw a fit about one of my figures failing to stand up when I wanted it do, and even less when they couldn’t bend to my needs. I controlled them well enough, so what more could I ask for?

Bust A Move

Well, after a while I demanded a bit more move-ability from my “actors” so that they could pull off more complicated actions and illicit slightly more emotion in dramatic scenes (“But Goku, Shredder just killed Spiderman! We can’t let him get away with this!”). I found myself wanting a few basic points of articulation (oh, and so there’s no confusion here, “articulation” relates to any place on the action figure that can bend and move). Here’s what I needed to be happy: The arms needed to move up and down and bend at the elbow, the hand needed to be capable of gripping a weapon or item, the head needed to be capable of turning left and right, and the legs needed to move at both the knees and the hip. That was the standard, though I later started to refine my needs further.

Suddenly just up and down wasn’t enough for my arms and legs. I wanted them to be on a ball-joint so that there was full range of mobility when arms and legs met with the torso piece. Also, I wanted a swivel at the waist so the legs could turn in a separate direction from the arms for more dramatic poses. As of now I like to have the head and chest on a ball-joint, feet to be on ball-joints as well, and hands capable of rotating at the wrist and elbows. All of a sudden I was demanding a lot, but it wasn’t to last.

This was my absolute favorite action figure ever. It starred in more adventures than I care to remember.

I got into the Marvel Legends line of action figures and suddenly I discovered that articulation looked somewhat ridiculous when applied to some characters. I got a Daredevil action figure that could move at just about every point that you’d think a person could move a thing, which was a selling point for me when I bought it. But when I got it home things didn’t seem so great. He looked absurd being able to twist around to any pose I wanted. Nothing looked natural for him, no matter what I did. Part of this problem may have been that his limbs were on the small side and thus the awkwardness of him stood out all the more. I later got a Beast figure from the Marvel Legends line and found him to look better, but still, something about the crazy amount of articulation messed with me.

It got me thinking more about what I really wanted. I think it came down to what I needed the figure to do. When I was a kid I got a toy from the movie Small Soldiers, which if you remember correctly is about toys that are implanted with computer chips and become sentient. I saw that the toy has knee and elbow joints on him, so I bought it thinking the toy would be just as cool as I remember it being in the movie, (though I was aware it wouldn’t move on its own). When I got it home and out of its wrapping I made a startling discovery: The articulation wasn’t real. The knee and elbow joints were only a decoration indented in the plastic since the toys in the movie looked like that. I felt pretty ripped-off, but whatever, I had a new toy. His arms and legs still moved, but they couldn’t bend. He was also taller than my other toys, so all of this combined to mean that he was a villain that had very little brainpower but was incredibly strong and deadly. I was forced to adapt my needs to fit him into my scope of fun. I never could have any real fun with my Daredevil action figure though.

Where does the line get drawn? What do toy companies consider articulation? A classic Ninja Turtle action figure has seven points of articulation according to my count (arms, wrists, legs, and head), whereas a G.I. Joe has twelve (arms, elbows, wrists, head, waist, legs, and knees). Most of my Dragonball Z figures had between five and fifteen points, but my plastic army men had zero. What constitutes one point of articulation anyway? Does a pivot joint count as multiple if it can move up and down and side to side? If so, does Stretch Armstrong have infinite points of articulation, or just one big point? At what point does the whole concept of articulation break down?

And why exactly do we want our toys to articulate anyway? What’s the need? Part of it is to pose the figure in a stance, though part is to recreate a specific motion that the character may be known for. If you have a Goku action figure, you probably want it to be capable of posing in the Kamehameha stance (hands cupped together off to one side before forcing both hands forward). However, of all the Goku action figures I had, not a one was capable of replicating that pose. Not even anything close to that stance, either. Somehow I had G.I. Joes that could do Kamehamehas but not the actual character known for doing the attack. I also had a bunch of Pokemon figures that were literally chunks of plastic, meaning they couldn’t move whatsoever. That didn’t stop me from having Pokemon battles with each and every one, somehow replicating the hundreds of attacks from the video games using a large amount of imagination and learning to settle at that.

I’m not sure if we can ever really get action figures to a point where they can pose in all the ways we’d like them to. The human body is a miracle of function, whereas an action figure with a chest joint is a revolution in articulation. The best I can do is decide what I do and don’t want in my toy. I don’t need finger and toe joints on action figures, but I do need the head and neck capable of looking upward. I don’t need the knee joint to actually be a kneecap connecting two joints together, but I do want the foot to be able to bend up and down at the ankle. I’m very picky at this point, but I know I’m not the only one, otherwise we wouldn’t have deluxe versions of action figures costing more than the regular versions that can hardly move at all.

So where does it end? Where does it start for that matter? What do you want to see an action figure do and what could you do without? Time for you to leave a comment and let me know.