TOP TOYS: PART ONE

By @hmsbeefnuts

I loved toys when I was a kid, that may not be a shocking statement, but it is a true one. I love toys now if I’m honest, I just don’t buy them any more, but that doesn’t stop me looking. The recent Avengers buzz I was experiencing made me want to check out some of the toys that tie in with the movie. Off I went to Toys R Us, and other toy shops, and bizarrely supermarkets, to check out the toys that today’s kids are into. It was a massively fun exercise. Toys R Us was always my favourite shop when I was little, that and Forbidden Planet, and to be honest, that hasn’t changed. Toy shops sell fun, and there aren’t many more noble causes than fun, even if toys seem to be selling at extortionate prices these days. I thought I would look back at some of my favourite toys from my childhood, and hopefully Google Image Search will be able to provide some great pictures, for unfortunately, I don’t own any of these any more. Lets see what I decide to pick shall we?

WWF

The wrestling figures of my youth are a pale comparison to the amazing fully articulated representation of modern WWE Superstars. But I loved them never the less. I have talked about my Macho Man Figure before, and he was my favourite of the figures I owned. I had the ring, and spent many happy hours bashing them together, reliving Wrestlemanias and Summerslams. These were great toys.

TEENAGE MUTANT HERO TURTLES

To say I was obsessed with TMHT, is something of an understatement. Of course, the toys were worth their weight in pizza. My Dad valiantly waited outside of Woolworths and Toys R Us at some ungodly hour of the morning to secure my Brother and I the fab foursome. I also remember having some very cheap knock offs for a time, before finally getting my hands on them. My favourite, Michelangelo of course. I also was lucky enough to get the sewer play-set, and the blimp, which was simply one of the greatest things I ever owned.

DINO-RIDERS

Every kid loves Dinosaurs. What could be better? How about Dinosaurs that have gigantic guns and other weapons strapped to them, so that two alien species could battle it out on planet Earth? Yeah I thought so. Dino-riders were so cool. They were really nice sculpts of the Dinosaurs, and also the bigger ones could walk!! I remember my Grandmother being quite freaked out by them on Christmas morning. My favourite was the massive T-Rex, or the Dienonychus (a much better Raptor). I wish I had these in mint condition. The video that came with the toys had the greatest toy adverts ever, I could watch them constantly. How come toy adverts always make the toys look amazing? Why couldn’t I have a scale model jungle for my Dino-Riders? Sometimes, life ain’t fair.

TRANSFORMERS

It still amazes me that the cars, planes, trucks and Dinosaurs, turned into robots! What a great idea. My first transformer was Optimus Prime, the G1 original with trailer. So cool. My favourite was Grimlock, a robot that turned into a T-Rex!! Oh hell yeah, best thing ever? Close. I also owned Transformer knock offs, The Go-Bots, and Rock Lords. I don’t see why a robot turning into a rock was so cool, but I thought they were, and had quite a few of them for some reason. They were nothing compared to Transformers though.

GHOSTBUSTERS

Who ya gona call? The Ghostbuster cartoon was the source of the toys for this next entry. The toys were not very well articulated, but they were decent sculpts of the cartoon forms of Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston. The ghosts were the cool things in this series of toys, with transforming figures that turned into ghosts, and amazing cups of slime that came with many figures. The coolest toys, however, were the replica proton packs and traps. I can remember running around a friends house with his pack strapped to my back pretending to bust some heads, in a spiritual sense. Awesome. Busting literally made me feel good.

Here our nostalgic look back must end, but look out for part two, coming real soon, where we will look at a mild mannered Prince, who becomes a barbarian super man, a toy that can be literally anything, more transforming vehicles, and many more. Catch you next time, I’m off to Toys R Us, for research purposes only you understand…

My Geeky Trivia

By Geeky Gem

Now I don’t need to tell you how much I love cartoons, I think from articles I have written here, and of course, if you know me, then it is fairly evident that I love cartoons. Most of the cartoons I love are the ones I grew up with as a child, this includes the one I am here to share some trivia about. Transformers was the love of my life, with a number of other cartoons, for the best part of my child hood, here are some things you may ,or may not have known, about those robots in disguise.

  

The first ever Transformer to appear in the series is Wheeljack.

Peter Cullen, voice of Opitmus Prime, based the voice on John Wayne.

Cliffjumper was originally going to be named “Blow-Out”, due to his tendency to suffer from blown tires.

Ted Schwartz was originally to be the voice for Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime for the post movie episodes.

Omega Supreme was originally going to be called “Fortress Maximus”. Although his name was changed, the name Fortress Maximus is later given to a character who first appears in the series-ending.

Voice director Wally Burr occasionally filled in for voice actors that were unavailable for a given episode. For example, he provides Thundercracker’s voice in The Transformers: War Dawn.

Optimus Prime was never intended to return to the series after the movie, but a public outcry (which surprised the producers) resulted in him returning.

Skyfire is the only Transformer in the series who changed his alliance.

Alpha Trion is the only Transformer in the series who aged since the beginning of the war between Autobots and Decepticons till the present time.

Starscream was originally called Ulchtar, according to comic writer ‘Bob Budiansky’, the “grandfather” of Transformers. He is not sure how the name was spelled exactly, though.

I could go on and on with trivia about this fantastic cartoon, but as I am in the geek cave I can already hear Mr Beefnuts telling me to stop and move on, so join me next week for something new.