Top 5 Toys

[legios]

Jun 10, 2013 17:54:20 GMT Bogatan said:

4. er.. this one doesnt exist, but for years I was convinced that Jetfire had been released in Decepticon colours (red to Purple). I even have the memory of seeing it on the top shelf in Atcost. I know it does not exist now

A Decepticon Jetfire may not have existed, but there was a version of the Valkyrie mold that was red with a thin white trim stripe on the wings. (They were the "ace colours" of Miria Fariyna (Jenius)). The only difference was that it was a VF-1J with the twin laser head as opposed to the quad-gunned VF-1S head used for Jetfire. They were briefly available in this country as I recall seeing them on a shop shelf along with her husbands blue/white version, so it is quite possible that you saw one of those, so your memory might not be as erroneous as you think.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

Jun 10, 2013 18:36:29 GMT blueshift said:

Jun 10, 2013 18:34:13 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Zore in the UK, Hammer Rock in Japan.

www.zoidspoison.com/zoidstalk/tm.asp?m=56329&mpage=1&key=�

hanegaru.main.jp/d1983_035.htm

hanegaru.main.jp/d2001_032.htm

I have him in a box in the attic! Sadly one of the few Zoids I broke

I've got two of the Japanese re-release it is fab.

[legios]

Hammer Rock is brilliant. I think I may still have mine kicking around in the box somewhere. He used to look great sitting by the arm of my Iron Kong - like he was being shown the ropes by Big Brother.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

Week 30: 5 best toys you currently own

[legios]

Jun 17, 2013 7:53:58 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Week 30: 5 best toys you currently own

Does this include all toys, or is it restricted to non-transformer toys only. If it is the latter I will have to rethink a couple of my slots, as two of my favourite current collection are Tf's. (I suppose I could always to duelling lists, one with them and one without.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

However you wish to interpret it

[Shockprowl]

Top 5 toys I own? Good one. I'm including TFs.

5 Cardboard Death Star (from my childhood)

4 Custom Marvel Legends Sentry (don't groan!)

3 3P Green Giant Devastator (ho ho ho, baby!)

2 Masterpiece Soundwave (nostalgarama)

1 Quakewave (extreamly ultra-awesome)


I expect a certain Masterpiece Police Car will come in at number 1 soon enough.

[legios]

So.... my favourite toys which I currently own. Interesting question, and one that is somewhat variable as we move through time and obviously isn't going to line up with the five best toys I have ever owned... anyway, looking broadly at my current collection as a whole:-

5: Zoids Command Wolf Desert Type (custom): Take a basic command wolf repaint it in a desert tan colour, and modify the weapon mount to take a belt-fed rotary gun from a cheap soldier figure for laying down fire. My first major customisation to a toy, and I still love it dearly.

4: LEGO A-Wing: I love A-Wings, I love LEGO this brings them both together in one package. Sold.

3: Deathsaurer - it is an enormous mechical dinosaur with a particle beam weapon in its mouth and a battery operated stomping walk. It looks great, sleekly armoured like a giant mecha should, and is an incredibly fun kit to put together.

2: Car Robots Black Convoy: An evil repaint of one of my favourite Optimus Prime toys ever. Fantastic looking bit of kit in both modes, and a lot of fun to fiddle about with.

1: Yamato Macross VF-1J Valkyrie (Maximillian Jenius type) (1/48th scale): The 1/48th scale "Yammies" was where it was at for Macross toys at one stage. Far superior to anything Harmony Gold was doing with its Robotech license in terms of accuracy to the animation models and, at the time I bought it, comparable in price to them despite the larger size. Max's Blue-with-white colour scheme is by far my favourite scheme on a -1J, and here it is on a mold that really does it justice. In fighter mode it does have that all-important "Wooshability" (the number of snap-rolls, inverted rolls and split-S's my 1/48ths have done whilst I've watched the telly are uncountable). This version also comes with a fine array of accessories as well - not only the gun-pod but two sets of hands (TV accurate puffy hands, and more mechanical ones that fold into the arms during transformation), three complete load-outs of underwing ordnance but also the boosters, missile launchers and leg fuel tanks for Super-mode, making it a very fine package indeed. A permanent fixture in the living room display, no matter how it gets reorganised.


Karl

[The Doctor]

Lego ACKBAR!!!!

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Another slightly different one this week..... in that it isn't the actual toys we're voting on

Week 31: Top 5 Toy packaging styles

[Philip Ayres]

5 Beast Wars II (search for Beast Wars II boxes) The Japanese white again but this time with a coloured swipe and picture down one side of the box..... but it's red on the left for Cybertrons and purple on the right for Destrons. Fabulous.

4 Masterforce! Japanese toy packaging is always great and this deviation from the original TF design is marvelous - picture

3 Original Transformers Red or Purple - depending on Faction - and black. Easy tell who are the good and bad guys. Superb

2 GI Joe - Black again, but this time with large artwork - Picture

1 Original Star Wars - Black card backs, the silver border, large photos. Superb - picture

[Hero]

1/ Original TMNT
2/ MOTU Classics
3/ Monster in my Pocket
4/ Hasbro WWE
5/ Real Ghostbusters

[Jim]

In no particular order:

1. 1980s Lego large-ish boxes where there was a flap and window. I'm mostly thinking castle stuff here - tell me this isn't beautiful: img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/suz322/Lego6074Inside.jpg

2. Matchbox cars boxes - obviously I'm mostly thinking the 1980s style ones, blue(? were there some orange ones too?) with windows, but a quick glance at images of older ones show that they were lovely too.

3. Rock Lords - A bit more than just plastic bubble glued to a bit of card, and I like the showing of the transformation steps across the top: www.ikp.uni-koeln.de/~scholl/rock/rock/coll/for_sale_2.jpg

4. Palitoy Action Force - The photo showing all the available toys was not unlike the joy of a fresh Argos catalogue, but more comprehensive and durable!

5. Transformers Micromasters, the later silver ones - I still think this design looks fresh today when you find a MOSC example (especially for the teams, both 4 and 6 packs), and I like the box version as well.

Deliberately kept to childhood stuff I had, there was certainly nicely packaged stuff that I coveted. Also didn't want to flood it with Transformers stuff - I'm sure we could fill a TF-specific packaging top 5!

Bubbling under:

Transformers Action Masters - a counter-intuitively top-heavy design, but looks great still as per the Micromasters and the technobabble nonsense on the schematics is a joy.

Action Force with the black card backs.

-Jim

[Philip Ayres]

Jun 30, 2013 10:49:36 GMT Jim said:

4. Palitoy Action Force - The photo showing all the available toys was not unlike the joy of a fresh Argos catalogue, but more comprehensive and durable!

There's several very similar Star Wars cardbacks.....

[Jim]

I know, never had any Star Wars toys though.

-Jim

[Philip Ayres]

Week 32: Toybiz Marvel X-Men & X-Force

In the 90s Toy Biz ran many succesful lines of Marvel toys. We'll start with the X-Men & X-Force lines - top 5 figures from each please!

www.toymania.com/archives/xmen/

cooltoyreview.com/Flashback018.asp

[The Doctor]

Despite being a fan of many Marvel comics and characters, I've rarely been into being buying Marvel toys other than a MU fig on discount from time to time. Pretty much the only Marvel toy mania I ever had was for the Secret Wars line back in the day!

-Ralph

[Hero]

I have the Iceman figure that changes colour. It lives in my chest freezer.

[Jim]

Despite being a Marvel Zombie I've never once owned an action figure and have rarely been tempted to (I did want a Doom Roller when I was a kid); if Death's Head ever turns up he will be the first.

-Jim

[Philip Ayres]

I've owned some, but got rid of loads of them. Still got a load of the comic related Iron Men.....

And there's a MU Guardian & X-Force Wolverine on my desk.

I did like a lot of the X-Force Cable figures - deep space armour and rocket from wave 2, Urban assault from wave 4, Cyborg from Wave 5.

The Wolverines were somehow never quite right.

[Shockprowl]

I love my Marvel figs. Marvel Legends in particular. I have healthy collections of both Legends and Universe, with a light dusty of Select, but I have slimmed the collection in recent years, and to slim it a bit more.

X-Men wise, I don't have many. I have a few of the Legends X-Men, but non from the dedicated X-Men lines.

I'm more of an Avengers and F4 kinda guy! Great looking figures though.

[legios]

Jun 24, 2013 7:52:54 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Another slightly different one this week..... in that it isn't the actual toys we're voting on

Week 31: Top 5 Toy packaging styles

In no particular order:-

1. Original Transformers - Solid colours, with the regular grid pattern. Incredibly eye-catching and really stands out on a shelf.

2.Original Star Wars - Black with silver-trim, one again eye-catching and really establishes shelf-presence. Unmistakeable when you walk into a shop, and really draws the attention.

3. Early Yamato Macross: A big box with the mecha (usually in fighter mode) and its ordnance and accessories laid out on clear display inside, with a big flap that lifts up over the whole of the large box frontage. Usually fairly flat colours with either a dignified logo or a discretely photoshopped photograph of the contents on the flap. It isn't the most distinctive thing around, but whether by accident or design it strongly resembles the packaging style of many diecast aircraft models - and given the crossover between Macross fans and aviation enthusiasts it is a piece of highly apt mimicry.

4. Beast Wars II - Phil has covered the why's and wherefores of this. Suffice to say that one of the few pieces of Transformers packaging I retain is a BW II box.

5. Masterforce - Again, I think it is very striking, the balance between the oft-impressive box-art and the "tease windows" is well-maintained, and once again it really can't be mistaken for anything else.

Toybiz Marvel X-Men and X-Force

I think I've seen a handful of these in the plastic, but not for long enough to feel I have a considered opinion. I shall leave this one to wiser heads than myself.

Karl

[Shockprowl]

Jun 24, 2013 7:52:54 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Another slightly different one this week..... in that it isn't the actual toys we're voting on

Week 31: Top 5 Toy packaging styles

This was another great entry, Big Phil. You keep bashing them out there, don't ya?


I've been racking my brain, but can't remember five as such. So slight cheat involved. In no order.

G1 Transformers. I think The Man Karlos says it, with the grid, and the clear-cut colours and writing, the MAGNIFICENT techspecs on the back... just freakin' iconic.

Original Star Wars. I love the Movie clip that featured on each card, and the list of available figures on the back. The stuff children's hopes are made of.

Cardboard Deathstar. Yes a kind of 'double original Star Wars' entry. But this in particular sticks in my mind as clear as it was yesterday.

Action Force. Flint era. Similar set-up to Star Wars really. Sticks in my mind.

[The Doctor]

MOTU had very striking packaging with bold colours and some fantastic painted artwork on the vehicles and playsets. Pack-in comics with the figures were a real draw too as part of the overall package on shelves.

-Ralph

[Hero]

Jul 1, 2013 10:03:57 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Week 32: Toybiz Marvel X-Men & X-Force

It's Toy Biz Marvel Superheroes month here on Top 5 Toys!

In the 90s Toy Biz ran many succesful lines of Marvel toys. We'll start with the X-Men & X-Force lines - top 5 figures from each please!

Only had 3 of the X-Men toys. I also had Mr Sinister and his light up chest.

Best of all was my mail order Gambit (from Kellogs Frosties, I think). I even took screengrabs from old Windows 3.1 solitaire and printed off a set of playing cards to go with him. Was tricky, but worth it. Probably the first custom accessory I ever did for a toy.

Embarrasingly, Ice-Man has turned a bit yellow over the years.

[Philip Ayres]

Week 33: Batman

Top 5 Batman toys. Any line

[The Doctor]

Batman.

-Ralph

[kayevcee]

Oh man. I don't think I can limit it to five.

Forest Attack Batman
Street Luge Batman
High Visibility Batman
Missile Command Batman
Bruce Wayne Disguise Batman
Freezing Fist Batman
Fiery Fist Batman
Fork Lightning Fist Batman
Croc Catcher Batman
Penguin Punch Batman
Riddle Wrangler Batman
Joker Choker Batman
Bane Bounce Batman
SDCC Exclusive Blue/Black Bionic Belt Bane Bounce Batman
Cheese Taster Batman
Opera Fanatic Batman
Vanilla Batman
Strawberry Batman
Chocolate Batman
Mint Choc Chip Batman
Caramel Crunch Batman
Raspberry Sprinkles Batman
1996 Olympic Special: Pole Vault Batman w/ pole
1996 Olympic Special: Heptathlon Batman w/ hurdle
1996 Olympic Special: Hammer Throw Batman w/ hammer launcher
1996 Olympic Special: Table Tennis Batman w/ Bat Paddles
1996 Olympic Special: Dressage Batman w/ Bat Saddle
1996 Olympic Special: Synchronised Swimming Batman w/ Nose Clips
Nuclear Option Batman
Radiation Suit Batman
Solar Storm Batman
(I Can Breathe In) Space Batman
Tunnel Vision Batman
Tropical Paradise Batman
News Vendor Batman w/ Late Edition Launcher
Dark Knight Batman w/ cardboard Joker
Dark Knight Batman w/ cardboard Harvey Dent
Dark Knight Batman w/ cardboard Two-Face
Dark Knight Batman w/ cardboard Commissioner Gordon
Dark Knight Batman w/ base for cardboard figures x 4
Batarang Launch Batman
Batarang Catch Batman
Parachute Batman
Wall-climbing Batman w/ wind up walking action
Imaginext Batman w/ Robin
Imaginext Batman w/ Alfred Pennyworth
Imaginext Batman w/ Batgirl
Imaginext Batman w/ Bat Cycle
Imaginext Batman w/ Ace the Bat-hound
Imaginext Batman w/ Bat-mite
Imaginext Batman w/ "Invisible" Bill Finger

and that's just off the top of my head.

They're all winners.

-Nick

[Jim]

Only Batman toy I've ever owned was a little die cast Batmobile. So that.

-Jim

[Philip Ayres]

I had that Batmobile when I was little..... and the Batboat it could tow, and the Batcopter. Great toys.

The only Batman figures I really bought were the 6 inch Batman Legends of the Dark Kniught figures. There's a limited edition Dark Knight Detective Batman which is spot on while the others are varying degrees of not quite right. Love the assault gaunlet version, despite the yellow highlight. Repaint that and it'd be superb.