Archive for June, 2008

He sells sea shells by the sea shore.

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Here’s one of those random flea market toys I found weeks ago. Another lone, quirky action figure.

I wasn’t quite sure what this guy was, but I knew I liked his style. Looks like he should be an evil, menacing villain, but c’mon! He has an arm-swinging action feature (which is broken), a whale on his head, bling around his neck, barnacles and sea shells all over his body…

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Typhus - BeetleBorgs Action Figure

…and he even has a crab for a hand (a truly awesome and hilarious design decision by the way). How menacing could he be?

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Typhus - BeetleBorgs Action Figure

I figured he was a Power Rangers character, but I wanna come up with some better (worse) sea-related jokes to introduce this guy.

- He sells sea shells by the sea shore.
- The REAL Aquaman
- He’s sleeping with the fishes.
- He has a bad case of crabs.
- Mascot for Sea World

Yeah, that’s it. He can be the original, retired mascot for Sea World. Since he was fired by Sea World, he’s become old and bitter. That’s actually not an angry, “evil” look on his face, it’s just frustration due to his lack of any other relevant job skills.

Seriously though, this toy looks to be another quirky Power Rangers bad guy, but as always, ya gotta check the toy’s markings – “© 96 Bandai” on one foot and “Made in China” on the other.

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Typhus - BeetleBorgs Action Figure

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Typhus - BeetleBorgs Action Figure

Ya know, I actually had no luck figuring out what this toy was. Seriously, I scoured the web for Power Rangers and BeetleBorgs characters for a pretty good while. Nothing.

But thanks to JohnH at the ToyTraderz.com forums, I was able to get some help identifying this guy. Turns out it’s a Saber-Swiping Typhus figure from the BeetleBorgs toy line, and according to Wikipedia, Typhus is a Chimera, humanoid monster who likes to fight. His whale flattop is actually an extra mouth used to eat food and other junk, and he uses a sword (which blasts lasers when held in his extra mouth) that latches to his arm or his mouth. Weird.

I’m not too familiar with the BeetleBorgs. They just look like another set of brightly-colored, acrobatic kids that fight monsters.

I sure as hell hope, the show wasn’t as bad as this music video I found.

Nightmare Warriors by MTC

Sunday, June 8th, 2008

Alright. Prepare to be jealous. The toys featured in today’s entry are too cool for words (not literally… how else would I write about them?).

I found these fellas a few years back, at a toy show, lying in a cardboard box among some other generic toys. I got ‘em for five bucks each or something like that. It appears that I’ve really lucked out, because I cannot find these things for sale anywhere.

I need one more figure to complete the set, but I figured I’d show ‘em to you anyway.

Nightmare Warriors
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Nightmare Warriors Action Figures

I’d never seen these charmingly goofy skeleton toys before, but after a quick search online, I found that these guys are from a toyline called Nightmare Warriors produced by MTC (Multi-Toys Corporation) in 1983. They are ghosts of historical warriors (but they look more like ghosts of the Village People)… and they glow in the dark.

Just a side note – I think it’s funny that these guys were buried nude, basically… only wearing boots, a belt and head gear. Weird huh?

Major Bones
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Major Bones - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure Major Bones - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure

Pancho Villa
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Pancho Villa - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure Pancho Villa - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure

Captain Kidd
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Captain Kidd - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure Captain Kidd - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure

Sir Lancelot
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Sir Lancelot - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure Sir Lancelot - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure

Geronimo
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Geronimo - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure Geronimo - Nightmare Warriors Action Figure

It looks like these guys were made to possibly cash-in on the popularity of the Masters of the Universe toyline. One could make the argument that they were inspired by Skeletor, but I think these guys are much cooler (and skeletal). Outside of the “skull face” comparison, they actually do have very similar hand positioning to the MOTU toyline (you know, one “grip hand” with protruding thumb accompanied by one wide-open hand.).

Nightmare Warriors - Captain Kidd Nightmare Warriors - Geronimo Nightmare Warriors - Sir Lancelot
Nightmare Warriors - Pancho Villa Nightmare Warriors - Spartacus
Nightmare Warriors packaging photos courtesy of The Gallery of Monster Toys

As you can see in these packaging pics, I’m missing the Spartacus figure. If anyone has it and would like to get rid of it, please get in touch with me ;)

I, Cuddly Robot

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Web and Industrial Designer, Matt Kirkland, has a website featuring various personal and professional projects. The projects include his web work, sketches and stuff like that. But what really caught my attention is one of the sections on the site called Stupid Projects. I think these projects are Matt’s way of keeping himself occupied.

One of the most pleasantly surprising “stupid projects” is In Vestimentis Ursum – Matt’s revelation of the animatronic robots that lie beneath the fur and plush of their respective dolls. The results are surprising, creepy and comedic. It’s a great little project, and it actually makes me feel like buying a couple of these things just to skin them and put them on a shelf in my studio.

Here’s a look at some of my favorites from his site.

Stripped-down cow doll, revealing its animatronic skeleton

Stripped-down Fred doll, revealing its animatronic skeleton

Stripped-down Elmo doll, revealing its animatronic skeleton

Stripped-down Care Bear doll, revealing its animatronic skeleton

(Thanks for the link Billy.)

Toxic Crusaders – Headbanger

Sunday, June 1st, 2008

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Toxic Crusaders - Headbanger Action Figure by Playmates

Isn’t it a beautiful thing? A kiss on the cheek and a sweet whisper in your lover’s ear. There’s nothing quite like the love between a man and a monster?

Waitaminit! These guys may be close, but they ain’t smoochin.’

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Toxic Crusaders - Headbanger Action Figure by Playmates

Looks like they’re actually some kind of mutated freak. (It’s their mutation that makes them freaky, not the fact that they’re conjoined.)

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Toxic Crusaders - Headbanger Action Figure by Playmates

I didn’t know what this toy was at first, but i did immediately recognize it as a Playmates Toys figure due to it’s distinct, quirky character design and sculpting style. (Playmates’ toys were distinct at the time anyway. I’m not sure how good they are nowadays.) Its brightly colored neon and splattered paint applications made me think it could’ve been from the Toxic Crusaders toyline. I also saw the word “Troma” on the foot, so i immediately knew this guy was in good company. For those that don’t know, Troma is a studio known for it’s B-movie horror/comedies… but more on that later.

A quick web search taught me a bit about this character. He’s Headbanger – a fusion of two opposing personalities in one conjoined body. We have Bender (the mad scientist) who has somehow accidentally been attached to Fender (a surfing, singing telegram boy who is apparently responsible for the accident). Seems like his name should be Fender-Bender or something like that. Too obvious I guess.
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Toxic Crusaders - Headbanger Action Figure by Playmates

As you can see, Headbanger comes with a surfboard that is chock full of gross texture and sea creatures and stuff.

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Toxic Crusaders - Headbanger Action Figure by Playmates

Here’s a look at both sides of the gnarly surfboard.

Now, back to Troma. They’ve made tons of movies over the years, but one of their most notable is The Toxic Avenger. It’s a great, horrible movie about a kid who gets transformed into a big, musclebound, toxic, crimefighting freak.

Well, this R-rated movie full of sex and violence somehow got transformed into a kids cartoon. I’m all for sex and violence, but i’m not quite sure kids should be watching the Toxic Avenger just yet. Does anyone else think this is funny? I was actually discussing this idea with some friends a couple of weeks ago. Who started the trend of converting R-rated movies into kids shows? I’d love to see kids’ reactions (and their moms’) after seeing Toxie kill a man with his bare hands.

Isn’t it funny that this…

… was transformed into a cartoon like this.

What are some more R-rated favorites that somehow became kids’ cartoons? The only movies I could really think of were The Toxic Avenger, Robocop and Rambo. Anyone else know any kids shows based on adult entertainment?