You know what? I’m not the all-knowing weirdo toy guy you think I am. Sometimes it’s you guys who introduce me to cool, weird toys.
… And I thank you.
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Like this guy for example. I never knew he existed.
This little gem of a toy came to me from a new virtual buddy of mine, Michael Bukowski. He’s the author of an awesome toy blog, Blarghhh Spot, dedicated solely to balls. Not just any kind of balls… mainly Madballs and other related bootlegs and knockoffs. You should definitely check it out.
Mike actually contacted me months ago proposing a toy trade (I always like getting those kind of emails).
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Among the photos, I was really drawn to these awesome monster head things (I have no clue what they are, but they may appear again in a future blog entry)…
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… and this awesome, Japanese Dracula bank called Hasty Dracula.
I immediately fell in love with the vintage manga design style. Not only that, but with a peculiar name like “Hasty Dracula,” I had to have it. I decided to trade. Luckily for me, I had some rare balls on hand.
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I had these horribly ugly mini-sadballs in my possession…
Hasty Dracula would be mine. I was already pretty excited to get the toy/bank, but I didn’t know how great it was ’til I saw it in action.
I’ll let you see it for yourself.
I love how the bank is like a characterized Rube Goldberg device. You don’t just drop the money in the coin slot. That’d be too simple and no fun at all.
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You actually drop a coin in Dracula’s back (notice the giant, red syringe – weird)…
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… wind him up, and wait as he climbs his ladder…
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… to undoubtedly accost his next victim.
Luckily for the lady, when Drac reaches the top of the ladder, he loses his balance and falls into a tree –
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Depositing the coin into a slot in the tree.
What an awesome way to save a quarter.
For the small size of this bank (approx. 7″ tall), the automation is surprisingly accurate… and painfully slow (that’s why I jazzed up the video).
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And once the bank is full, there’s a removable cap on the bottom where you can release all 6 coins you’ve saved. Ha!
There are a couple of drawbacks to this toy I’d like to mention. The first is the fact that I can’t remove the Dracula figure from the ladder. He’d be a cool little standalone wind-up vampire toy, and he’s forever imprisoned on his ladder. Unfair. I’ve tried prying him off that ladder, but it feels like I’ll break his arms if I push it much more. Damn.
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The second drawback is the fact that the diorama is basically a thin piece of cardboard. I like the drawing, and it totally sets up the story, but I’m still disappointed. It’s kind of like the feeling I had as a kid when I saw that Cobra’s base was a glorified piece of cardboard.
Oh! Here’s a packaging pic I swiped from Tons-of-Toys.com. According to their site, the bank was released in the 80s by Toplay TPS Japan and distributed in Italy by ALES. (Dracula actually looks a bit like The Count from Sesame Street in that pic.)
In closing, I’m still left wondering why Dracula doesn’t just transform into a bat and fly to the window. It’d be a lot quicker, stealthier and a less painful landing. In fact, isn’t this approach the opposite of hasty? It takes time and effort to locate a ladder, set it up and climb up to the window. Not only that, but is he actually going to draw blood from her with that syringe instead of biting here? Maybe he’s not a vampire at all – just one of those goth, poseur wannabes! If that’s true, it makes this Dracula more of a knock-off Dracula. Perfect!
On the Weirdo Toys blog, it’s always been my mission to uncover rare and strange oddities, but this time I’m onto something really special.
I’ve just uncovered this undiscovered etching of a long-forgotten ancestor in our evolutionary heritage.
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It looks like this new “creature” is a mutated step between gorillas and humans.
So, who gives a crap about rare creature etchings, right? We’re here for the toys! Well, as soon as I saw this drawing, I actually recognized the creature in the center there.
Check this out.
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I actually have a toy of that exact skeleton. I dug it up last year in a toy excavation. Pretty coincidental.
But I have a feeling that the specimen I found is a rare, undead, zombie skeleton.
He looks a bit zombie-ish to me.
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He’s got some tell-tale signs – like his glowing read eyes and his mouth full of bloody teeth.
If you take a closer look at his body, you’ll see some other strange anomalies like his big ol’ hands and tiny feet.
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Check out his torso. What’s with that funky sternum and neck ventilation? And I’m guessing the pelvic vent and crotch cross-bones didn’t help in his survival.
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And this is weird too. There are arbitrary bones growing on his shoulders and hips. What the hell?
I wish I knew what to call this guy. Maybe I should call him “Mortisapien.” (Lame. I know.)
….
Okay. Okay. enough of the B.S. here’s the real scoop on this toy.
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I was actually lucky enough to receive this skeleton toy as a gift from The Godbeast when I bought a couple of Underworld Warriors figures from him last year. Thing is, I have no clue what the hell he is or where he comes from (and neither did The Godbeast). He’s an unmarked gray skeleton. I don’t think he’s a crappy bootleg, because he’s fairly well made. I base this primarily on his paint application. Look how well done the red strips between the ribs and vertebrae are. Even each individual tooth is painted. That would take some seriously skilled sweatshop laborers to paint like that.
So, if you happen to know anything about this toy, please share with the rest of us.
Until then, I’m claiming he’s a rare, blood-sucking, brain-eating zombie species.
You see these generic-looking super heroes? (The ones that look a lot like Playmobil?) They may look like true knock-offs or bootlegs of your favorite comic characters, but they are in fact a legit toyline from a legit Spanish toy company, Airgam.
“What the hell is Airgam” you may be asking? well, Airgam is a toy company that was established in 1976 and is best known for its miniature figures called Airgam Boys.
The Airgam Boys had various series which included themes such as Space, Romans, Cowboys, Sports, etc. One such category called “Airgam Comics: Super Stars” was released in 1985… which leads us to these guys – The Super Fantastics and Super Diabolics.
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They’re a bunch of guys wearing capes, boots, gloves and what looks to be diapers on the outside of their pants. Not only that, but most of them are carrying guns. Even the good guys. I guess there’s a higher price to pay for crime in Spain – a bullet to the gut.
Looks like the series more or less uses all the same body parts and accessories. They just get different coloration, paint apps and stickers.
Let’s take a closer look at the figures shall we. We’ll start out with the Super Fantastics.
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First of all, what’s up with that name? Ha! Sounds a lot like a bad English translation doesn’t it? It makes them that much more charming I guess. And this type treatment is so funky. Looks like some kind of street graffiti.
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This is a rough bunch of super heroes. You’d think they were over sized, floating heads, arms and torsos hanging out with miniature, heavily-armed little people. It’s a pretty nasty-looking illustration – a weird mishmash up of all the characters piled on top of each other. The characters’ scale is all off, and the characters which appear to be in the background are overlapping characters in the foreground. It loses all sense of this thing being a “montage.”
Super Fantastics
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The Fantastics characters I have to show you today are Stars Man, Bird Man, Red Masker and Captain Laser.
Stars Man
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Stars Man, is pretty much a Captain America ripoff if you ask me. Although, since he’s just a “stars” man, I guess his allegiance is the stars themselves and not necessarily to the United States. He could represent any country that really likes stars… or Astronomy.
Bird Man
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Bird Man seems to be the Batman ripoff. He’s got the big, bat ears… only thing is, he’s bird man. Birds don’t Have big ears like that. Not sure why they did that. They should’ve given him a beak or something.
Red Masker
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Ha! Now we have Red-Masker… which is probably the funniest name in the bunch. If you can’t come up with a good ripoff name for a Spider Man character then you shouldn’t be naming toys. Ha. Why “Red-Masker?” Couldn’t they have done something like “Arachna-Kid” or “Webbed-Wonder?” How’d they come up with the “Red Masker?” I can picture it now:
“Hey Berto… we need a name for this Spider Man-looking guy.”
“Is he wearing a mask?”
“Yeah.”
“What color is it?”
“Red.”
“Why don’t we just call him ‘Red-Mask?’”
“I dunno. Seems too lifeless. It’s not action-oriented enough. No real ‘kick’ to it.”
“Well, how about ‘Red Masker?’ You know, he masks people and stuff.”
“Man. Why didn’t I think of that? The kids are gonna love it!”
(Damn. I went off on a tangent there. Sorry.)
Captain Laser
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Here’s Captain Laser. This guy was obviously inspired by Cyclops from X-Men, but his sci-fi logo style and the word “captain” in his name makes me feel like he’s more of a Buck Rogers, sci-fi, leader kind of guy. Plus, I love how happy he looks. He’s probably the wise-cracking smart ass of the group.
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Oh yeah, and look at this. He may be cracking a smile now, but if you cross him, he’ll laser-blast your ass. What did the innocent people in that sky rise do to deserve the laser-beamed wrath of Captain Laser? Maybe some Super Diabolics were hiding in there.
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Next, we have the Super Diabolics. I’m actually a bit intrigued that these toylines have separate names… unless “Airgam Comics: Super Stars” is considered the toyline’s name. I dunno. Anyway, the same weird English translation thing goes for this toy title too. Love it. The style here is more reminiscent of skateboard graphics or tattoo art or something. So pointy and flamey.
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And look at these guys. They seem a bit more unique/diverse and not so ripped-off (at first glance anyway). This montage suffers from the same weird perception of space between the characters. I like their dark and mysterious setting – surrounded by creepy castles, sharp mountain ranges and monster bats.
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The Diabolics I have to show you today are Dr. Diabolic, Python, Piranha and Spector.
Dr. Diabolic
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First we Have Dr. Diabolic… which basically means this guy is the leader. If you’re team is called the “Super Diabolics,” and you are doctor of Diabolics, then you are definitely the bad-ass leading the bunch. His mask only covers a part of his face for some reason, and it looks like he’s even lost an eye in battle. He kind of reminds me of Mr. Sinister from the X-men.
Python
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Up next we have Python. Which looks like a weird 70s Dracula. I love the little ‘stache and stained vampire fangs. If he’s not a weird reptilian vampire, I’d say he’s a retro version of G.I. Joe’s Serpentor.
Piranha
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Here we have Piranha. I think he’s the misunderstood weirdo of the bunch. I’m sure he speaks or acts in some way that any passerby would think he’s “special needs.” He looks pretty cool. Looks like a cross between an alien and a fish man. Good to see he has a trident instead of the guns everyone else seems to love so much.
Spector
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Oh. And my favorite of the bunch – Spector. He’s definitely the scary, mysterious loner who answers to no one. Question: What’s more bad ass than a guy with a skull for a head? How about a guy with a skull head wearing a futuristic leather space suit. What’s cooler than a skull-headed guy wearing a futuristic leather jumpsuit? How about a skull-headed guy wearing a leather jumpsuit toting around a big blaster. This guy has to be an undead space biker. He could’ve been inspired by Ghost Rider.
That’s all the characters for now, but we’re not done yet.
Not only were these little guys cool, but they had huge freaking playsets.
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Here are a couple of playsets that were featured on the back of the packaging. Looks like a city playset with a giant spider web, and a big glowing bad guy along with the castle playset. The castle is kind of wonky and more fantasy-inspired than these comic characters. Just look at these things. Sure they’re just cardboard cutouts, but they seem like they could’ve been pretty fun.
Playsets not cool enough for you? Well, in these pics you can see a lot of these guys had alternative figure versions which came with their own personally-branded vehicles. Looks like they had various airplanes, motorcycles and hovercrafts.
Red Maskermobile
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I happened to get my hands on this Red Masker-mobile. And boy is it a thing of beauty. Looks like a weird jetski-speedboat-hovercraft or something. Not sure if he flies this thing or sails it.
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Also, notice the Red Masker that came with this vehicle is different than the regular one. This time his eyes are exposed, his costume’s original web patterning has devolved to a generic criss-cross design, and now, he has his name written across his chest (so you won’t confuse him with Spider-Man).
Panther Man and Bad Tiger
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You may’ve noticed a couple of characters from the toy packaging that didn’t get their time in the limelight. I don’t have these figures, but I figured they needed a little mention.
Here we have the Super Fantastics’ Panther Man. He’s basically a Wolverine ripoff. They tried to throw us off a bit w/ that bow, but we know Wolverine when we see him.
And then we have the Super Diabolics’ Bad Tiger. He actually looks pretty nice. Reminds me of a character you’d see in an old Nintendo Pro Wrestling game or something.
Note that they both have an animal theme and the same color scheme. Oddly coincidental.
If you happen to have these figures or know where I can find ‘em, please get in touch with me
And lastly, I wanted to share this vintage Spanish toy commercial for the Airgam Comics: Super Stars. You know they had to be legit if they had their own toy commercial. Enjoy.
Oh man. All I can say is I love these little guys. I’m so glad I discovered them. I never knew anything about them growing up (being the little American kid I was in the 80s). Thank goodness for the internet and my buddy, John, who hooked me up with a lot of these figures. Thanks John!
Quite possibly the most horrible, disgusting, poorly-produced toy I own.
Seriously.
Look at him.
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He’s a hairy beast, trapped in his own cobbled-together body – screaming in agony, because he’s stuck in this constant state of crappiness.
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Seriously. The guy looks like a failed prototype of a prototype or a badly-built model kit or something.
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Another weird thing about this monstrosity is its potent chemical smell. Not only does it stink, but the smell actually rubs off onto your hands when handling this thing. Now that’s a first in my toy collection. Even Stinkor’s stench doesn’t rub off on you.
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And just look at this awesome toy construction. Now that’s quality.
His pieces don’t even fit together properly, and he looks like he was painted by a small child… with a poor motor skills… using a partially-crusted, dry brush from a bottle of white-out.
I know this is a bootleg possibly produced using child labor, but c’mon! Teach those kids to paint!
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Oh, wait! The figure came in a little plastic baggy with a header card and everything. It looks so legit now!
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And look at the huge assortment of accessories he came with… which he can’t even use.
Wanna know why? Because most of the stuff was re-purposed from smaller toylines’ accessories – Masters of Universe, Galactic Fighters, Galaxy Warriors, and maybe a hint of Thundercats.
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Well, at least he can hold the swords… but only in one of his hands. Wanna know why? Because the shoddy production processes left him with some much extra plastic flack all over his body, his hands are filled and closed off.
Kind of gross actually.
Well, there is one saving grace to this figure – that custom package header. Let’s take a closer look.
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Not bad. I mean it’s crappily printed and all, but it looks awesome. It’s actually an original piece of art – hand-drawn typography and semi-sloppy comic art style. A lot of artists and designers strive for this look. You’d normally expect to see re-purposed packaging art from the original toyline on these Mexican bootlegs. I really like the personality of this piece (I even made it into a desktop wallpaper for you.).
I wonder what the original toyline was. I’m guessing it’s Thundercats. My first clue was the title “Thunder Cast Villanos.” Ha! Plus I recognize some of the characters in the artwork. (From left to right) Looks like we have Monkian, Slithe (who looks freakin’ great!), Mumm-Ra… and ummm… some wolf guy (is that supposed to be Jackalman?) and… uh… is that Golem from Lord of the Rings? Looks like Vultureman on the bottom though.
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So, there you have it. The most disgusting Monkian bootleg you’ll ever see, and the crappiest bootleg toy I’ve ever owned (and the greatest wedding gift – thanks Jason!)
Wow.
If you’re one of those folks who’s not even sure who Monkian is, or what the original toy looks like, here’s a pic for you.
I actually had the original figure as a kid. I liked him well enough, but he was never really as cool as all the He-man figures I had him surrounded by.
Well, it’s the holiday season. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving a week or so ago. Did you celebrate it the way most Americans did? You know – rushing to the shops to find their super-great deals. Well, not me. I decided to spend nearly half a day on the road driving to York, Pennsylvania – home of the Greater York Toy Extravaganza, where I’m not guaranteed to find good prices or good toys at all. Worth the risk? I dunno. I’ll get back to you on that one.
I didn’t go to the York toy show alone. I actually went with my father-in-law. Yep. He’s into toys too. Luckily he’s a fan of old, die-cast cars and stuff (Dinky Toys mostly), so we don’t compete. Anyway, when traveling to York last year, we went by plane which turned out to be a nightmare. We had hellacious layovers and weather delays, so we figured this year we’d try to control our own destiny by driving.
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Not only did we drive to York, but we arrived to the toy show a day early. Some folks don’t know it, but they have an “Early Buyers” admission to the show. You can pay to get in the day before the show (or you can pay to get in a couple hours early the day of the public show). The dealers set up Saturday and sell to each other and other suckers like me that night. At last year’s show, we only knew about the Sunday opening. We were kind of rushed with our toy shopping, because we had to catch a flight. But now, we had plenty of time.
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And as you can see, maybe we had a bit too much time. Yeesh. Maybe getting there first thing really wasn’t the best use of our time or money. As it turns out, the dealers are getting there the same time as the early buyers. It’s kind of annoying actually. Why make the dealers wait until 5:30pm to set up shop?
Oh well. At least I bought a couple of things… maybe even stuff that would’ve been gone the next day had I not nabbed it first (at least that’s what I’m saying to convince myself it was worth the $20 early admission). Another good thing about getting in early is it gave me a good lay of the land. I figured out who and what I should be checking out the next day.
On Sunday morning, I got in early again, but this time more of the tables actually had toys on ‘em. Good thing, or I would been severely disappointed.
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I know I’ve always mentioned how the photos I take don’t really capture the essence of these large toy shows, so I actually took some video footage of each hall. What you’ll see here are walthrough clips of the two toy halls – The West Hall (which was filled with more antiquey and automotive stuff) and the East Hall (which seemed to be more kitschy and “modern”).
Don’t worry, the videos are really quick, but they’ll make you seasick. (Unfortunately, the East Hall video ends a bit too soon, because I ran out of space on my memory card. In fact, that’s the main reason I have so few photos to show you.) Enjoy.
West Hall
East Hall
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G.I. Joe Headquarters. Does it get any cooler than that? Nope? Then you should probably stop reading now.
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On the first night, I picked up this set of “Tales from the Cryptkeeper” toys. (Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that these are from a lame cartoon series trying to make the old EC Comics and HBO series fun and child-friendly? Sure looks like it.) I got a great deal on them… or at least I thought so. After I bought them I noticed their old price stickers. They were from Kay-Bee and sold 3 for $5.00. Ha!! If only I’d seen ‘em years ago.
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Next, I bought a handful of windups. The carded ones are some strange, celebrity caricatures. The only ones I recognize are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Jackson (The rest must be fütbol stars or something ). I also picked up the Q*bert, the little, orange ball guy, and a freaky-looking Fozzie. Really freaky.
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The last set is probably what people would expect at these shows. Vintage 80s He-man toys. Well, as you can see, some are Masters of the Universe, but others are knockoffs or monsters from Dungeons and Dragons and Inhumanoids.
The coolest piece is the Conan figure. It’s pretty rare, and I got a pretty good deal on it. Unfortunately, it’s not even for me. In fact, most of those fantasy figures were for a buddy of mine (it pays to be buddies with Weirdo Toys I tell ya). Don’t worry. I didn’t do it out of the kindness of my heart. I did it for a trade
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I’m thinking this guy didn’t sell a single one of these Beanie Babies. Not sure what he was thinking.
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Looking back on it, I’m not sure if the show is really worth it. Well, lemme take that back. If you’re within an hour or two drive, it’d be great, but I drove from South Carolina. That’s a long-ass way (I type this knowing I’ll probably go next year. It wouldn’t be as bad if I could get a small group to share in the expenses).
It cost me more in food, shelter and gas than I spent on toys. And not only that, but most of the cool toys I wanted were way overpriced (I sure sound like a cheapskate huh?). I’m serious. This isn’t like the Allentown Antique Toy Show were the toys are inherently expensive. This is a case of selling a dirty, broken-armored, incomplete He-Man figure for $25 (the one I got was nicer and cheaper by the way). Gimme a break. I even had a guy laugh in my face when trying to negotiate a price on a toy (Oh well. Just another guy I’ll never buy from if I ever see him again). It’s almost as if some of the sellers are there just to show you what cool stuff they have, having no real intention of selling anything (you know… like I do on this blog ).
In the end, it wasn’t too bad. There were plenty of nice folks with great deals – all there to share in the joy of toys. I’m happy I had the opportunity to be in York to do a little toy shopping, and I’m glad I have this opportunity to share it with you all.
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