Weirdo Toys

Archive for December, 2008

The Abominable Snowman (aka “The Bumble”)

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

I’m briefly interrupting my painfully slow revelation of the York Toy Show toys to feature a seasonal, Christmas toy.

I wanted to show you all a bizarre, freaky, strange Christmas toy like I did last year, but nothing really compares to a gyrating Mr. & Mrs. Claus in the bathtub.

I went to Wilsons 5¢-$1.00 to hopefully find something freaky again, but I had no luck. (I did see some more of the singing bathtub Clauses if anyone out there want’s one.) Plus, I’ve been pretty busy lately, so I haven’t had a lot of time to go searching for Christmas toys.

Mr. & Mrs. Claus in a tub

Eventually, I remembered that I already have some Christmas toys. I actually brought them to work years ago around Christmas time so my desk would be more seasonally festive (instead of scary). They’d slipped my mind, because I actually ended up lending the toys to my friend Megan (since my desk was so crowded and hers was so boring ), and they’ve lived at her desk for at least two years.

Maybe it’s not what you expected, but the toys I’m referring to are from the Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys toyline by Playing Mantis. They debuted years ago… probably 2001. They’ve been re-released over the years by a different company I think, because the quality of the toys seems cheaper. Cheapy plastic and paint jobs.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Playing Mantis

My immediate thought was “I’ll feature the Bumble.” He’s cool, and I remember being scared of him as a kid. Then I thought, it’d be cool to feature some of the Misfit Toys that come packed along with the other figures from the toyline like Yukon Cornelius, Santa and Rudolph.

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Well, after setting them out to photograph them, I felt like they worked “conceptually” for the blog, but they are too visually boring or uninteresting to feature (so, I’ve included a photo, just to show you that you weren’t missing much).

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The Bumble is cooler than those misfits.

He’s big, plastic and covered in white fur. He looks great. Is it just me or does he seem more cute, huggable and sane in this toy likeness? I think it was his whacked-out expressions, sharp teeth and roars that freaked me out as a kid. It seems like that’s been toned down a bit. They made him shorter and chubbier than he actually is in the animated classic. It’s been years since the cartoon, so I guess he’s been putting on the pounds since then.

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His jaw even moves slightly, but not enough to make it look like he’s talking or anything. It’d be kind of neat (but totally unreasonable) if the figure had removeable teeth like the cartoon. Maybe they’d snap in and out or something. You remember when Yukon pulled them all don’t you? It seems pretty damn raw/cruel now that i think about it, but as a kid, a toothless Bumble was a friendly Bumble.

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I couldn’t find any clips of the old Rudolph Cartoon I liked on YouTube, but I did find this little gem. The intro does nothing for me, but the Bumble section makes me smile.

Enjoy, and have a Merry Christmas everybody (even though I just gave you a disappointing Christmas entry).

Posted in Cartoons, Holiday, Monsters | 8 Comments »

Take me to your Imperious Leader.

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

So, here it is – Part 2 of my toy-finds at the Greater York Toy Extravaganza. Let’s keep it simple and just itemize what makes this toy so weird.

Ready?

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1. Freaky alien fish face

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2. Big, purple, 70s afro

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3. Flippers for hands

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4. Weird, split, flippery things for feet

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5. Weird, cracking neck thing

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6. And she’s completely nude (I’m calling her “she,” because she’s pink, dainty and just kind of girly looking.)

She actually looks like a crabby, old, alien grandma.

I saw this little gal at a guy’s booth. And I literally exclaimed to the guy, “What the hell is this thing, and how much is it?!” The guy kindly rejected my enthusiasm with a slight shrug of his shoulders, walked over to his buddy, mumbled with him a bit, came back over and simply told me, “It’s from Battlestar Galactica and it’s $5.”

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So what do you think? Worth the five bucks? I dunno. It’s a bit run down and scraped-up. I’d usually pay one or two bucks for something like this, but I guess I was eager to buy since I’d never seen it before. I have since tried to convince myself that the wear-and-tear of the toy gives it more “character.” Who am I kidding? I could’ve gotten this toy MOC (that’s mint-on-card for all you non-dorky types) for $10 probably.

Well, it didn’t take long, but I did find more info about the toy. It’s Imperious Leader from the Battlestar Galactica toyline released by Mattel in 1978.

Imperial Leader of Battlestar Galactica

Looks like I’m missing the cape/shroud thingy.

Wow! With the blanket accessory, the alien grandma look is complete. You know how cold grandma is all the time. Maybe we need to get her a Snuggie, so she can drink tea and stay warm at the same time.

Ya know… now that I think about it, maybe the nude alien is best. That way we get to see all the hidden freakiness.

I never really watched Battlestar Galactica (classic or modern era) or cared about any of the toys, so I’m not really familiar with this character or what her role is in the show. I guess she’s a bad guy. Probably the leader of the Cylons. The description on the package actually reads: “Sinister mastermind from the TV Space Saga!” But how imperious of a leader or sinister of a mastermind could you possibly be if you have no opposable thumbs or even sleeves to let your flippers out?

Imperial Leader as Rick James

Oh, and one last thing.

Is it just me, or does that hairstyle look like it’s really inspired by Jheri Curl? Classic.

Buy Imperious Leader toys on eBay!

Posted in Alien, Bizarre, TV and Movies, Used & Abused, Weird | 12 Comments »

Laundry Day with Batman and Robin

Saturday, December 13th, 2008

So, I’ve finally gotten around to the blog again. Sorry about the delay. I know a lot of you have been eager to see what I picked up at the York Toy Show.

Well, here’s part 1 of my toy haul.

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I was just strolling the aisles when these horrible, barbie-doll-sized bootleg superheroes looked up at me through a glass case. I could hear them in my head simply saying “save us.” I had to rescue them.

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I asked the guy who sold them to me where they came from, and he just said he got them from some storage warehouse in New York. Apparently it was being cleaned out (and it was filled with a bunch of crap like this). He also said these toys were from Hong Kong. They look like they’ve been packed away for a while. Maybe it just looks that way because of the stained, water damaged packages, crinkled capes, etc. There were several of these toys at this guy’s booth. I had to dig through ‘em a bit to find the ones with the least paint damage. Most of them had all the paint chipped off and stuck to the bag.

Batman
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This appears to be Batman. All I have to say is, it must be laundry day at Wayne Manor. His bright-red long johns crack me up. They’re not nearly as scary or stealthy as he’d like them to be. His cape and cowl actually seem to be color accurate, but it looks like they were just pulled them out of the laundry hamper. The cape is just so deformed and super-crinkled. Ha! I love it.

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Also, look at his feet and black underwear. They’ve just been sprayed on the front with no paint on the back. Cheap.

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Looks like he didn’t have any clean gloves either. Batman has actually resorted to painting his hands silver. It’s definitely not a glove. You can see every fingernail, knuckle and crevice of his hands.

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The bat logo sticker on his chest is a lot more of a “realistic” depiction of a bat than his traditional stylized logo AND his name is written on it. BATMAN. Is this there to clarify to the bad guys who he is? I guess when you show up in your red pajamas, you might need some way to remind them.

Also, isn’t the purpose of most bootleg’s screwed-up name and appearance to avoid legal issues? If so, why clearly call the guy “Batman?” Call him “Bat-Hero,” “Super-Bat,” “Acro-bat” or even “Man-Bat.” (Oops. that one’s already taken.)

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Look at the drawing on the Bat-package. It looks a bit like a “legit” Batman image, but he’s all mangled and awkward. His legs are deformed and broken, and it looks like his fingers may be too. I also like the arbitrary cross-hatching on his cape. This bootleg comic artist must’ve found some piece of art and filled in the missing pieces himself. The thing just looks funky.

Space Flyman
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Next we have Space Flyman, who looks a lot like Robin. Now this is proper bootleg etiquette – messed-up name, messed-up colors, but still similar enough to the original to know who the character is supposed to be.

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Why else would the Space Flyman have a bat logo? It’s just a clue to this guy’s origins.

He is Robin I guess, but his outfit is a bit wrong. Outside of the color inconsistency, he should be wearing a little vest, some undies, and little shoes. Instead, he’s wearing long sleeves, long pants and combat boots. Oh wait. Maybe it’s because he has no clean laundry either. Dang. I hadn’t thought of that.

Unlike the Batman figure, he has real clothes and boots. Kind of surprising for such a crummy toy.

There were a couple of color variations of this Robin toy. I don’t quite recall what colors there were, but I chose the orange shirt version. He looked best next to the red Batman.

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You can also see the cheapy paint application on his head. Just that small fuzzy streak of black.

(Robin has a very difficult time standing by the way. I actually had to use a bit of tape to keep him up.)

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This Space Flyman toy looks funny and all, but it’s actually the card on his package that gave me the biggest laugh. I find the illustration on the front of the card charming. It looks more like a member of G-Force beating up chubby members of Cobra.

But when you flip the card over, that’s where the hilarity ensues. It reads:

Space Flyman: Here is a powerful and wonderful man. Also a good fighter beats off any opponent with his strong muscles.

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So he “beats off” bad guys with his muscles? Sounds challenging (and kinky). I’m not sure what kind of message that sends to kids. I’m sure it lost something in the Engrish translation

Hey. You know what I just remembered? I got some Batman and Robin toys last year too… at the Allentown Toy Show. Maybe this is the start of a new tradition.

INFO UPDATE

Batman comic panel courtesy of Planet Zor. Thanks!

As Bubba Shelby pointed out, this Batman bootleg bears a striking resemblance to the Batman of planet Zur-En-Arrh. I have no idea what’s going on in this panel. It’s just a glimpse into the old and odd DC Comics Universe. Read more at Planet Zor.

Buy some bootleg Batman toys on eBay!

Posted in Bootleg, Goofy, Human?, Superhero, Toy Packaging | 11 Comments »

Greater York Toy Extravaganza 2008

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008

I’ve just returned from the Greater York Toy Extravaganza at the York Expo Center in York, Pennsylvania. I’ve never been to a toy “extravaganza” before, but I’d really have to say this seemed to be one.

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First of all, the show was freakin’ huge. Seriously, I’ve been to dinky, little, local toy shows a lot, but nothing prepared me for this thing. There were two huge banquet halls (a total of 28,202 square feet) filled with vintage-to-modern era toys and other collectibles. (There was also a train show going on somewhere else at the Expo Center, but screw that. This isn’t “weirdotrains.com.”) And to top it all off, they had music playing in both halls – non-stop Christmas songs. It was great. It felt like we were all going Christmas shopping for ourselves.