I like ‘em well enough. I buy some here and there(hoping to get some good ones), but overall, I’d consider myself a casual collector. I’ve never paid collector’s prices for a Dunny, and I’ve never even considered buying a custom Dunny.
But now things are different.
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Now I’ve discovered the “Dunny Skull.”
And it was love at first site.
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What’s not to love? A visible skull in any toy is pretty cool… especially if it’s encased in a glass-bowl-helmet-thing.
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I think what tops it off for me is this guy’s suit, derby and umbrella. That’s one classy bone head.
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What I also love about the Dunny Skull is the attention to detail. The skull has the color and visual texture of real bone. A dark paint wash brings out the details, which includes all of the skull’s sutures, foramina and teeth, making it appear more “anatomically accurate.” Beautiful work!
Alright. By now I’m sure you’re wondering, “where the hell did this thing come from?”
Well, there’s a 2-part answer.
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First of all, the Dunny figure itself is actually from the Ye Olde English Dunny Series. It’s “Rainy London” designed by Triclops Studio. It has a hollow, transparent head.
(As a side note, the “Dunny Skull” custom didn’t come with any of the accessories of the “Rainy London” Dunny. I’m not sure why. I just happened to have the original Dunny on hand to steal the accessories from.)
Secondly, artist and toy maker, George Gaspar(of Toy Break, and October Toys fame) decided to remove the paint from the head and fill it with a cool, miniature Dunny skull… transforming a “meh” Dunny into a “yeah!” Dunny.
I discovered this little guy about a month ago through SpankyStokes.com. When they announced the custom, George had created a pretty small run of skulls. I think he’s making more custom skulls as fans demand them, so if you’re interested, you’ll have to send him a private message over at October Toys’ discussion board.
Okay. First things first. I have no clue what the hell these toys are or where they came from. Just so you know. I really need your help identifying these guys.
These figures were a gift to me from someone who shall remain nameless. (Just wait. You’ll understand why once you’ve seen the toys.) He picked ‘em up on eBay years ago as a generous contribution to the Weirdo Toys collection, but this time he’s really outdone himself.
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Okay. Look at these weirdos. They look like they could be characters from a Mad Max cartoon or some other bizarre post-apocalypse themed series. And I think their kimono robes give them a bit of an Asian vibe. So maybe they’re from a post-apocalyptic kung-fu cartoon series.
Let’s check these guys out one-by-one.
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First up, we have this strange, long-nosed fellow. Looks like he could be a goblin or something with his greenish skin and pointed ears. That’s really secondary to the fact that he is wearing a stitched-leather bondage mask complete with zippered mouth. Yikes.
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He’s sporting a t-shirt, pants and sneakers and kimono. He’s also carrying something on his back. Looks kind of like a pot or bowl or something.
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Take another look. You’ll see that bowl on his back is actually a toilet bowl. Oh yeah, and there’s a fresh turd inside. Ha!
It doesn’t stop there. To complete the “things that come out of your butt” theme, it seems this guys is actually using anal beads to strap the toilet bowl to his back. I know what you’re thinking. Only my demented mind could come to that conclusion. But think about it. Conceptually and thematically, it makes sense. It almost makes the figure even better (maybe “better” isn’t the right word for it). He’s a weird little fetishist.
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So, this second guy is kind of freaky. It looks like he’s wearing some kind of protective oxygen mask. But what good is a protective mask if your giant, mutant tongue is hanging out? Look at that freakin’ thing.
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This guys’s got a huge, swiveling tongue that’s nearly as tall as he is. Like I mentioned before, he’s wearing that strange mask, and it looks like it’s held on with riveted rubber netting. He’s also got the kimono and sneaker action happening. If you look closely, you’ll notice his pants are unbuttoned.
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He’s carrying a waste basket of debris on his back. I’m not sure what that’s all about. Looks like there are some banana peels, soda cans and a juice box or something. Luckily this guys only using rope to carry the trash around.
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Alright. This third guy is the strangest of the bunch. he’s an emaciated, humanoid-dog thing with a hint of android.
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Looks like he could be hybrid of man and dog pieced together with wires, scraps of metal, spark plugs, metal plates, etc. He’s one strange pet.
It wasn’t until I saw the figure from this angle that I realized that it may not be a robot tail on this dog after all. It could just be a metal rod shoved up his ass. That’s definitely a first (and hopefully a last) for my toy collection.
This dog figure has a waist swivel joint that always seemed useless to me. His permanent pose really made this bit of articulation pointless. Well, mere minutes ago, I discovered there actually is a reason for it. I was inspecting the toy as I wrote this blog entry, and I noticed his torso was a bit loose. The two body pieces were separating. Out of curiosity, I pulled him apart.
This is what I discovered.
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A dangling, severed spine and juicy torso meat. Wow! This toy just got even weirder. These toys just keep on giving.
So, there you have it. three freaky toys that have been hanging around my studio waiting to have a home on the blog. Maybe you can help me identify them.
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As I stated earlier, I have no idea what these toys are, but the only clue I can share with you is this emblem. It can be found on all three figures. I’m not sure how it should be read. Maybe “V3 Toy?” The logo looks like an owl with a lazy eye. Any help from you guys would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
You see, I never really knew about the New Adventures of He-Man cartoon as a kid. I never watched the show or knew the characters or anything like that. I was already out of my Masters of the Universe toy phase, but that didn’t mean I still didn’t like looking around the toy store. My first (and last) exposure to “New Adventures” was on the shelves in a toy store. I still have a vague memory of strolling through the toy aisles of said store and seeing, hanging from the pegs in bold, gold type,”He-Man.” But once I saw what the He-Man figures were, I was a bit surprised, confused and disappointed. The characters were all new, they were a smaller scale, and they were not as freakishly muscular as I’d come to expect. It made no sense. It was traumatic I tell you.
Seriously. This new bastardized He-Man sucked. It seems that there was so much of a distaste for scrawny He-Man, that Mattel eventually released a couple more versions of him which you may notice grew more and more muscular.
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He-Man figure photos courtesy of He-Man.org.
Ha! He still looks pretty crappy but at least he’s transforming to the steroid-ridden He-Man. That’s the way we like him.
Well, I’m well beyond the whole purpose of this post. I’ll just say the new He-Man sucked. but it’s been a long time since those days, and looking at the line now with my weirdo-collector eyes, I can actually see the value in some of the “He-Man” toy designs – mainly the villains and especially this villain, Optikk (clever name huh?).
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You are looking at one of the freakiest He-Man villains ever created. His head is a giant, pulsing eyeball for cryin’ out loud, and it’s staring through your soul!
Optikk’s been getting a lot of attention lately, because he’s being re-made and released by Mattel in the Masters of the Universe Classics(MOTUC) line.
This is a testament to the fan-following this guy has garnered over the years. He looks pretty cool, but I figured I’d show you the original.
We’re going back to 1990.
Let’s start with the packaging.
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Ah. Good, old fashioned paintings of characters. I’ll always, always enjoy that. Thanks Mattel, for supporting some illustrators. (but I have noticed you’re re-using the same vintage art for the MOTUC lines. Just hire a guy to do new stuff, so it can be consistent.)
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Well, to start things off, I’ll just say, “Ugh.” Look at that freaky eyeball just staring at you. Creepy, huh?
According to his bio Optikk’s a “Bad-tempered goon squad cyborg from the foggy polar region of evil planet Denebria. Has a spyball eyeball that lets him see through almost anything.”
Ok. So he has the huge eyeball to see through the fog. I get it. His “people” have evolved to this point I guess. Giant eyeball heads.
Secondly, as you may have noticed on the package, Optikk has “Masters Action,” and his action happens to be a “quick-draw” move.
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It’s cool and all that he draws a gun on you, but it’s really, really lame that his arm is in a permanent, “I’m gonna bust a cap in yo ass” position. To “activate” his quick-draw action, you simply hold his arm down and let go when it’s time for him to shoot. You’re screwed if you ever lose the gun. You’ll be stuck with a guy who just kind of holds his arm out there.
But he has another action that makes up for the lame, rigor mortis arm.
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Just spin the dial on his back…
and his eyeball moves!!
In case you can’t figure it out, Mattel has provided some step-by-step instructions.
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Optikk’s fairly poseable too. He has various ball joints and hinges and such. Pretty fancy compared to the old MOTU figures.
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When all is said and done though, the guy is pretty neat. He looks like a steam-punk astronaut or robot or something… with an eyeball for a head. It really seems like a poor armor design to keep your most vulnerable body part completely open to attacks. Maybe Mattel should’ve made a dorky helmet for his eye or a battle-armor contact lens.
Well, Optikk, thanks for justifying the existence of the He-Man toyline. Best of luck with your MOTUC release.
Well, it’s hard to believe, but I actually have a bunch of new info about that mysterious windup, musical demon lumberjack I was so excited about (and desperate for) weeks ago.
I’m not sure if you recall, but in that video, we saw a freaky, distorting, rubber face placed on an animatronic, musical lumberjack-type of character (I’m calling him a lumberjack because he’s wielding an axe and he’s wearing boots and overalls).
The thing was so bizarre, I could’ve sworn it was “homemade.” I kind of recognized the look of the rubbery-face and figured it was a finger puppet placed on some weird holiday toy or something.
That lead to my search and discovery of this generic set of rubber-faced finger puppets.
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Jackpot! Not only did I get some weird-looking little finger puppets, but it appears that the demon-looking character from the video is in the bunch.
Okay, now that I’ve acquired the rubber faces, all I needed is the strange lumberjack toy.
Well, thanks to the help of some of you readers and a little bit of detective work, I discovered that this toy is called “Magic Monster.” Once I’d acquired that information, it would only be a matter of time before the toy gods sent this Magic Monster my way.
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Luckily for me, when the monster reared its ugly face, it came fully-functioning and complete with its original box. (Thanks toy gods!)
It’s not a lumberjack toy at all. It is, in fact, simply a nonsensical, axe-wielding monster that sways back-and-forth to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Who’d have thunk it?
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Not only that, but I also discovered the face on the original toy isn’t the one in the video, so I was correct in assuming the video was a “custom” job. I never expected this face to be on the toy.
Wow? That’s one ugly son of a bitch.
And just as I thought – the “head” of the toy actually has a few protruding pegs which stretch the removable, rubbery face stretch, bringing it to life.
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Here’s a full figure view for ya. I kinda feel that they cheaped it with the head sculpt. I know there were probably some technical limitations, but the round helmet dome thing just isn’t cutting it.
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And as you may have guessed, the animatronic head perfectly accommodates the “finger holes” of the various face puppets.
This is too perfect.
Do you know what this means? I can bring each face to life, giving the freaky axe maniac multiple personalities.
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We’ve got the demon-looking guy.
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The angry, mustached man, who actually looks like an axe murder (or angry lumberjack).
And here we have the creepy child molester. (This guy’s probably scarier than the original monster.)
You think they look cool as stills? Wait ’til you see ‘em in action.
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I’ve gotta warn ya though. The music in these videos will get on your nerves. “When the Saints Go Marching In” plays loudly from a speaker in his feet. Not only that, but you have the obnoxious internal mechanism of the toy continuously grinding while the song is playing . It’s basically every parents’ nightmare.
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Also notice the axe has a light in it and glows red. Scaaary.
I noticed my monster toy’s axe is facing forward and not sideways as featured on the box and even in that other video. Hm.
So, which one is your favorite? I think I like the mustached guy best. He just looks right in those clothes… plus his mouth full of teeth really makes his head movements more pronounced and lifelike. Now all I need is some more cool rubbery finger puppets. Any thoughts on where to find them?
After seeing this toy and these puppets. it begs the question: Which came first? Were the faces/puppets made for automated toys like Magic Monster, or was the toy made to accommodate the finger puppets that were already being produced?
The finger puppets don’t have much as far as markings go. All I can see is “® 986012 Made in China.”
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Here’s all the info taken from the Magic Monster box:
