More Transformer Robot Masters Bootleg Jets

Well I just stumbled across an image I took of a neat item I bought on clearence after Easter this year. It contains 4 total knock off Transformers. The three jets are bootlegs of Jets we saw in Takara's Robot Masters line from back in the early 2000's. The weapons included in the pack are copies of RM weapons. The remolds are lacking several different moving elements like the wings on the R Blade. The red and green jets had in their true licensed form been seen in Kay Bee Toys' Machine Wars line, then Beast Wars Neo in Japan, then RID in the USA, then back to Japan to be in the Robot Masters line. I really can't do the crappyness of these hunks of plastic any justice in words. I don't know if we will ever see these multiple generation reverse-molds again. However they do blend nicely with the originals. Keep fighting the good fight.

A day on Cleveland's North Coast.

It was a super hot day yesterday. I started bright and early with a friend of mine beachcombing. Beachcombing? Well in the spirit of exploring the hobbies of my friends I have found myself on a few beaches on Lake Erie combing about for long discarded pieces of our manufactured world. Different strokes for different folks. Although I am definitely not one to spend my day in the sun on a regular basis, I find the experience to be a mix of things. For one thing I appreciate the opportunity to get out into nature. Growing up with beach access within minutes of my home as a child, we frequented the beach quite often. I don't think I appreciated it as much in my youth as I do as an adult. A second facet of beachcombing I find fun is the relative expense, quite honestly it could be considered free if you don't take into account gas money to reach the assorted beaches that make up what Clevelanders refer to as "the North Coast". It is certainly also refreshing to explore new locales that I could have at any time since I got my driver's license all those year ago. I as you can expect however didn't spend alot of my recreational time in nature. I generally spent it exploring the halls of malls and the aisles of retailers. As a collector of toys I don't think I considered how much time I spent away from nature which had been a common theme of my youth. As a child my aunt was fond of taking my siblings and I to the many "Metroparks" that dot the landscape in Cleveland. As a Hungarian boy scout I also spent a bit of my youth at camp, exploring vast wooded areas and sleeping in tents. Back to the main subject, I find beachcombing that beachcombing offers a great insight into man vs. nature. The lake has done it's best to wear away at the vast amounts of glass and plastic that has been in it's belly for years. As my friend points out however the amounts of glass and the like that wash ashore these days is nothing like what beachcombing was like when she was younger. I am sure different factors play into this, I imagine the movement away from glass to plastic in the last 3 decades has alot to do with it. Also I am sure recycling has played a part. As well as a boom in the past-time of beachcombing. Well anyways, I had quite a bit of fun.. oh I nearly forgot to mention my prize find of the day... a Captain Jack Sparrow minifigure that shows signs of having been adrift in the lake. Weird how the hobby of a friend crossed back over into one of my own hobbies.

Friends of mine are doing a start-up t-shirt project, raising funds through Kickstarter. A loving mash-up of 80's cartoon/pop culture tee-shirts with a dash of Zombie thrown in. The first four designs include Musclemen trampling a city, Zombie Venger & Dungeon Master, Zombie Shredder & the Foot Ninja Clan, and the cult favorite Visionaries. We hope to see more mash-ups in the future once Thread or Dead lifts off the ground. Good Luck to Kristi & Paul, and thanks to any of my readers who decide to back the project.

Soft launch of G.I.Joe Retaliation toyline

So Hasbro and the movie studio involved with releasing the G.I.Joe live action sequel/reboot, G.I.Joe Retaliation, decided to push back the release of the film from this month until Spring 2013. They official claim it was to enhance the movie into 3D which international audiences are supposedly eating up. To top off the disappointment of fans they have held back any future product releases until closer to the new debut date. The toys had a street date of May 28th 2012, but it looks like retailers ordered minimal amounts with fears that it would perform poorly like the toyline from Rise of Cobra. Honestly I rather liked the original toyline. Most the Joes in that line were in some version of a blue urban camo duty uniform. I thought this was appropriate for a team like G.I.Joe, who in its original incarnation was formed of different specialists each with their own outfit, without true "uniforms". I know some purists will argue with me that the first handful of Joe's appeared in some version of a "green shirt" uniform. Also others might suggest that Night Force, Tiger Force, Slaughters Marauders and others were like uniforms. I can't argue against these points. It was in the Rise of Cobra line that even Snake-eyes donned duty uniform pants in one incarnation. Nevertheless, Hasbro and retailers may have majorly misjudged the demand of figures and vehicles for Rise of Cobra (ROC), or perhaps the retail price-point was way too high. It seems the toyline did fairly well at closeout. So anyways, back to the current film, more specifically the toys. It seems of my local stores only Target had more than one case of figures on the shelves for launch, I estimated about 3 cases must have been put out. I did not actually do a toy run on May 28th to all the chain stores in my area, which is basically 2 Walmarts, 2 Targets, 1 Toys R Us, and 1 Kmart. I did manage to pick up a few items in the week leading up to the official street date. I found 2 three-packs at my Toys R Us at the $19.99 price-point, as well as the two vehicles at the $15.99 price-point. After the launch date, my local Walmart had one solid case of characters on the shelf so I bought all twelve. Then I picked up an extra Cobra Commander and Red Ninja from another Walmart not that close to home. This mostly completes what I want from the movie line for now. I am not impressed with the new HISS tank mold, the Joe plane, or the motorcycles. This partially has to do with the limited articulation of the drivers which totally goes against the founding principle of Joe figures being super articulated which had given them the edge against Star Wars toys back in the day.

Shared from: Pleasant Family Shopping: March 1, 1962 - The First Kmart Opens

Pleasant Family Shopping runs a great blog about the shopping experiences of yesteryear. Check out the recent article about the 50th anniversary of K-Mart:

Pleasant Family Shopping: March 1, 1962 - The First Kmart Opens: Today marks a key milestone in retailing history – the 50th anniversary of the opening of the first Kmart store, in Garden City, Michigan, p...

From Concept to Screen Tron Legacy Siren Gem

As I finalize my application process to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, this old Facebook update seems all the more fitting.

February 4, 2011 at 8:19am

"From concept to finalized product, this is the sort of thing I like. I can only hope some of my toy concepts see realization some day in the future." (This is not to imply I designed this costume, but I hope some of my designs someday go from the drawing board to finished design like the concept below. Kudos to the artists who made Gem possible)

(Tron Legacy is property of Disney, the image is used here for entertainment and educational purposes)

Lady Muscle

Here is the start of the transfer of my Facebook musings from before my Blog started:

The following was originally posted on my Facebook page on January 31, 2011 at 9:13am

Not all figures are for kids. Inspired by the series that spawned the MUSCLE-Man craze of the early 80's, Here is a re-envisioning as basically "MUSCLE Lady". To satisfy my cool Anime toy desire from missing Ohayocon, I nabbed this exquisite piece off HobbyLinkJapan.

Lady Robin at HobbyLinkJapan

G.I. Joe at HasbroToyShop.com | G.I. JOE WAVE 10 12-PACK Product Details

One of the current two cases in rotation right now, this case contains an excellent balance of Renegades figures, 30th Anniversary reincarnations of classics, and the new Zombie Viper.


G.I. Joe at HasbroToyShop.com | G.I. JOE WAVE 10 12-PACK Product Details

Kenner Aliens: the opening of Night Cougar, Queen Face Hugger, & King

I recently sold some Kenner Aliens figures with some pretty damaged packages on Ebay. Although I had listed the packages as damaged I thought I would confirm with the buyer that the packages were in poor condition before shipping them to him. When he replied that he knew, and planned to do something "very uncollector-like" and open them anyways, it got me to thinking. I wanted to know what the addition of these toys to his collection was like from his perspective. He was more than happy to oblige me and wrote the following with the included pictures. Please enjoy this guest featurette:

"I have carefully worked to preserve my collectibles over the years, sometimes even putting an item under glass. I finally got that message, "Don't take it out of its original packaging!"

But not with Kenner ALIENS:

This is my hive. Note the complete lack of packaging! The first Alien to begin this hive is appropriately the Deluxe Queen (bottom left), purchased in 1992. I was 12. These variations of the xenomorph (based on Dark Horse Comics after Alien ³) were my introduction to the Alien franchise. I still remember the moment some kid showed me a couple after school one day. "Where are the eyes!?" I was hooked.

I finally took it upon myself to grow the hive. I was fortunate enough to win three missing xenomorphs from "The Amazing Toyland" in Ohio. The box arrived on February 27, 2012.

Opened! Note the considerate packaging.

There is some aspect of having all these different xenomorphs that is thrilling to me. With the exception of "Atax" (who is hiding within a xenomorph suit, I own none of the space marine characters (not even Ripley). It's all about the bug.

The Night Cougar Alien is freed first. I already own two Panther Aliens, which are the same toy, different paint job. I know immediately that the Night Cougar is superior, indicated by the packaging that calls his parasite "kamikaze" rather than merely "flying."

The Queen Face Hugger is next. I am wary of the Queen Face Hugger (as it seems to be pushing even the Dark Horse universe just a bit) but am immediately won over by its many abilities...

...which I need to consult the instructions to understand.

Success!

The Queen Face Hugger also comes with a mini Dark Horse comic (another added benefit from opening the package). The strength in Kenner's Aliens is the odd filtering of the source material. It is not a direct tie-in to James Cameron's Aliens but rather a tie-in to the Dark Horse Comics Aliens (which of course is a tie-in to James Cameron's Aliens). Confusing. What's awesome about Dark Horse (at least to a kid) is how they ran with the idea presented in Alien ³. Thanks to Dark Horse there's an expansive fictional science surrounding the xenomorph, including pure breeds and all these trans-breeds!

Finally. The King.

My immediate theory is that the King is actually a version of the "Rogue" featured in the comic also known simply as "Rogue." In this comic, scientist meddle with the xenomorph DNA and are able to produce a male creature, similar in size to the Queen. Their hope is that it will be peaceful and more susceptible to domestication. They all die.

Night Cougar is introduced to the Scorpion Alien.

The Queen Facehugger is placed next to the Killer Crab Alien. They have strikingly similar paint jobs.

And of course: Queen and King!

The new hive is up and running. At this point, there's only alternate paint jobs out there for me (And I'm pretty much out of room now anyhow)." -Paul L. Petzrick

I'm not dead yet.

So it seems my blog came to practically a dead standstill in the last 6 months or so. It makes me think back to the inspiration of the blog. As a collector I had been known to post stuff new and old about toys on my Facebook for my friends, some of whom are fellow toy nerds. Then in a short window of time, maybe over the course of a week or two, I posted about five semi-related toy topics per day. Basically I had a theme for each day. That's when my friend Chris suggested a blog. I figured blabbing into the vacuum of the internet could do me good. So I started The Amazing Toyland. Although outside the first couple of weeks of blogging, I didn't really recapture this stream-of-toy-consciousness that I had going on Facebook that had inspired the blog in the first place. Bear in mind I really wasn't a fan of over-doing daily posts on FB so peaking at 5 or 6 inter-related updates a day was a bold maneuver for me. I was mostly afraid people would block me from their feed. Now however since time has passed since the inception of this blog, something is drawing traffic through here, so I am not certain what any of you came to read or hear about, but I feel compelled to get back to the roots of what originated this blog. So I am going to go back into my Facebook from the weeks leading up to the blog and translate the content over to here. Plus it certainly brings me joy to discuss nerdy topics. Which is something I really enjoyed about being at Keiper's Comics from day to day.

Transformers Robots in Disguise & Robot Masters Stealth Bombers

Today's feature is about a pair of Transformers that may quite possibly have crossed over more different incarnations of Transformers than any other molds. Starting in Generation 2 the stealth bomber was released as Dreadwing, along with his compatriot who at that time didn't even get a name. Before returning to US shores, the planes in question moved to Japan in Takara's Beast Wars Neo toyline. While being a garish purple color scheme in G2 these guys were given a far more realistic predominately black color scheme in Japan, they would also return in the Takara licensed Sonokong Transformers line in Korea (in the same color scheme). Dubbed BB and Starscrem, I believe both bots had screen time in the cel animated Beast Wars Neo cartoon. In 2002 they returned as a Target exclusive in the Robots in Disguise toyline in the color scheme seen above. I think the greens really give the guys that military feeling. At this time they were named Dreadwing and Smokejumper. We aren't done yet, the final release to date would come in Takara's Robot Masters line. This time they were dubbed Gigant Bomb and Smokesniper. Packaged examples are seen below.

More MOSC fun from Transformers Generation 2

Since I have a couple posts going up today regarding Transformers, I figured I'd start with the most vintage of the toys. But first some lessons in toy collecting jargon. MOSC in collector's circles stands for "Mint on sealed Card" which is often mistaken for MOMC "Mint on Mint Card". MOMC refers to a carded example of a product with an impeccably factory new AKA "mint" package. MOSC merely indicates the items are still sealed on the original card with no indication as to the condition of the package other than the original glue is holding the toy to the cardback. MOSC is sometimes referred to simply as MOC, or "Mint on Card".

As you are well aware by this point I have a Transformers collection focus, namely "spychangers" which is sometimes retroactively applied as the name for the same toys as they appeared in Generation 2, although technically the term "spychanger" was not coined until either Takara's Car Robots 2000 or Hasbro's Robots in Disguise toyline (RID for short circa 2001). In generation 2 the cars were called "Go-bots" as Hasbro had acquired the name "Go-bots" from Tonka when it was absorbed into the Big H. These cars were clearly Hot Wheels sized and touted as having high speed racing axles. Although I have never botherd to try, I believe the cars actually fit onto Hot Wheels Tracks.

I managed to sweep up some great auctions a few months ago, and I got some toys from Generation 2, Machine Wars, and Takara's Robot Masters. For your purusal today is the two MOSC examples I purchased: Ironhide and Sideswipe. Both names came from Generation One, and I think were intended to help existing fans relate to these diminutive Transformers. I really don't have much more to say about these characters today, I mainly felt like showing off. Although in conclusion, it is neat that Sideswipe and Optimus Prime share molds and one is red while the other is blue, the complimentary colors of old 3D glasses.

Abbey & Toralei sold out lightning quick, see ya later girls.

I hope to get more of these gals in stock before the holiday. Want to stay up to the minute on Monster High dolls, then visit Monsterhighdolls.com

Why so serious, about action figures?

This picture doesn't do the Heath Ledger likeness on this figure justice, but rest assured it is fantastic. If Mattel can keep up the level of quality we see on this figure in future releases then I think I'm hooked. The Dark Knight figures are a far cry from the Kenner/Hasbro figures we saw for the other movies throughout the 1990's. Pose-ability and sculpt are the two things I look for in action figures and I think this character is on the high end of the scale for likeness, with a fair amount of non distracting articulation to boot. We plan to carry more stellar DC action figures in the coming months.

Honey I shrunk Generation One

This week I was able to get ahold of the Transformers Reveal the Shield legends class Generation One wave. Even though I have an affinity for the matchbox sized spychangers, I haven't paid the similar scaled legends class much mind, until now. The set of six diminutive Transformers are a fun lot with Megatron finally returning to his gun form in a safe pint sized edition. The set also includes Optimus Prime in original snub nosed cab form, Starscream, Prowl, Gold Bumblebee AKA Goldbug, & Trailcutter AKA Trailbreaker. The toys also include an update of the original thermal rub insignias from our youth. This is a definite tip of the hat from Hasbro to long time Transformers enthusiasts. The whole wave is considered "tail-enders" as they were on the end of the 2nd movies merchandise run and did not see wide distribution. Check them out if you get a chance.

Keiper's Comics, Games, & More 34 W Main Street Down, Madison, OH 44057

I'm sure anyone following my blog may be wondering what I have been up to these past couple of months. Well here's the official announcement, I have been working on a collaboration with my friend Alex on the opening of a hobby store. This opportunity has been a long time in the making. As an avid collector of many things, namely action figures, comics, & the like, a store just seemed like the natural evolution of the hobby. I had been in the planning stages of a store several times in the past, but it never came together. I am thankful for the time and energy other parties like Dave Z. and Cameron put previously into the attempts to start up a store. Now I am directly involved with Keiper's Comics, Games, and More located in Madison, Ohio at 34 West Main Street Down. I really appreciate all the support from friends and family alike on this endeavor. Along with the store I continue to do auctions on Ebay and on Crave.com I look forward to continuing my lifelong obsession with collectables through this hobby shop venue. I am more than happy to shoot the shit on all topics of nerddom with anyone who cares to drop by.

G.I. Joe 2011 30th Anniversary 7-Packs Revealed! Slaughter’s Marauders & The Dreadnoks!

G.I. Joe 2011 30th Anniversary 7-Packs Revealed! Slaughter’s Marauders & The Dreadnoks!

Here's some excellent news from the NYCC!

Star Wars Aurra Sing (Repacks and Repaints) for Sale on Crave

Star Wars Aurra Sing (Repacks and Repaints) for Sale on Crave

Strange things are afoot in my life.

Not that anyone truly cares, but just to let you know, I have not abandoned this blog. I have been in the process of emptying my storage locker, going through all that stuff from there, and also moving out of my apartment. It has been hectic, and I should have some goodies to show for my "delving into my past" soon. I am going through like the last 15-20 years worth of stuff, so bear with me. Here's a teaser:

Star Wars Aurra Sing (Repacks and Repaints) for Sale on Crave

Star Wars Aurra Sing (Repacks and Repaints) for Sale on Crave