Just a quick note. I’ve added a “Weirdo Shop” page to the site.
Now I need to be totally honest with you. This is simply a page that calls specified eBay auctions to the page. I’m not selling them personally. I’m actually doing this to potentially make a few extra dollars to maintain this site… cuz it’s getting costly
I’m seriously not trying to pressure anyone into buying a thing. I’m just letting you know, I’m experimenting. I’m going to attempt to list some stuff you all have been interested in. If I can save you the work of having to find it, good for me.
Anyway, have a good weekend, and I hope to have some more weirdo stuff for you next week. If you have any ideas of stuff you’d like to see in the shop, be sure to leave a comment or something. Thanks.
So, last week marked a historic time in United States history. A controversial time. I’m sure you all remember the moment you heard the big announcement.
Yes.
Yes we can.
Yes… we can induct a stick into the Toy Hall of Fame.
What a time we live in. A time where sticks are considered toy equals to the likes of Barbie, Play-Doh and Etch-a-Sketch.
Yeah. That’s right. As of last Thursday, THE STICK(along with the Baby Doll and the Skateboard) is now in the Toy Hall of Fame. How cool is that? It’s a bit weird, huh? It’s true that every kid plays with sticks I guess. Now it’s come to the point of acknowledging their iconic play status (now that’s what I call progressive).
So, this little piece of toy history actually reminded me of some little weirdo toys I’ve had put away for a while.
They’re not real toys. Well, they are, but… They’re fictional toys in a sense. They are toys of toys. Hmm. I’ll just get to the point.
It’s Log!(from Blammo!)
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Yep. You remember Log don’t you? It is a toy that was featured in commercials on The Ren & Stimpy Show. A lot like the Stick, the Log is just a huge chunk of wood, allowing kids’ imaginations to go wild. The commercial basically spoofs classic kids’ toys like Slinky, Barbie and Mr. Potato Head.
Maybe this will jog your memory.
So these Log toys are pretty goofy on their own, but they actually came packaged with a Ren & Stimpy toy series that was released in 2004 by Palisades Toys.
Unfortunately, the toyline never made it past Series 1. Luckily, I was able to get some before they were gone. The toys were pretty nice I guess, but no matter how many Stimpy toys I bought and returned, the left hand would always break off. Pretty frustrating.
As you can see on the back of mini toy package, there are five Logs to collect in the series: Action Log, Log for Girls, Secret Agent Log, Log of the Klondike, and my favorite of the bunch, Civil War Log.
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BUT… the logs on the toy package don’t line-up with the ones that were actually packaged with each figure. I’m not even sure if they made them all. Can anyone confirm if these were randomly placed in with each figure, or were these future Logs that were never released?
Action Log
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Sure, there is Action Log, which appears to be the rugged, G.I. Joe-fuzzy-beard inspired log.
Log for Girls
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And then there is Log for Girls, which appears to be the a combination of a Barbie doll and Mr. Potato Head.
Puppet Log
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But here we have a Log that doesn’t appear on the package at all. It looks to be a Puppet Log or a Ventriloquist Log.
Invisi-Log
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And Lastly, we have what I call the Invisi-Log. Not sure what this thing is. The Ghost of Log? Actually, it’s more likely to be a spoof of the rare “chase” figures that are released with various “collector’s” toylines. You know, the repaints or clear ones or gold ones or whatever. It’s a pretty funny gag if you ask me.
On a side note, the creator of Ren & Stimpy and the frontman for Spumco Studio, John Kricfalusi, writes a fantastic blog featuring various tips, techniques, history and all kinds of stuff on the topics of drawing, animation and old toys. It’s a truly entertaining and informative website, and I recommend you check it out.
INFO UPDATE:
As you may or may not know, the Ren & Stimpy toyline basically ended after the first series of figures. Well, it turns out, there were a lot more LOG figures in development. Here’s a look at a bunch of goofy LOG prototypes on sale in Corndog Collectibles’ eBay Store. Check ‘em out. (Heck, if you have enough money, maybe you should buy one )
These toys look really great. Too bad they never made it into the grubby little hands of us toy collectors.
Now THIS is what I’m talking about! All you blog readers out there take notice. Last week marked a true sign of reader generosity.
Out of the blue, one of the blog readers, “Mistuh_Thye,” contacted me informing me that he’d found some cool toys. He thought I’d enjoy them for my collection and website, so he wanted to send them to me.
Awesome.
I’ve had this kind of thing happen with friends and family but never with a total stranger. I’m always really grateful for all the thoughts and kind gestures, but unfortunately, a lot of the toys i get from folks don’t really “make the cut” in my undefinable sense of weirdness (Yeah, I’m an ass. Sorry.).
So, out of the kindness of his heart, Mistuh_Thye sent me a couple of weirdo toys… and not only that, they were WEIRD! Wow! That really meant a lot. Thanks so much. Not only did I get some cool, free toys, but they are actually good ones.
When I first got the message from Mistuh_Thye, I was a bit weary. Seriously. This is a total stranger that could be sending me anthrax in the mail or something. But, for some reason, I trusted him. Thanks Mistuh_Thye. You’re the best. (As a sidenote, I wanna let you all know that Mistuh_Thye likes to collect Hillbilly themed toys and stuff, so if you have any cool items to share, maybe you can drop him a line.)
Well, enough Mistuh_Thye ass-kissing, let’s see the toys.
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First we have this awesome and generic karate-terminator-barbarian kind of guy. I’m not sure not sure what toyline he’s from. He has no markings (none that I could see anyway. I didn’t strip him down 100%).
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The first thing I noticed is his torn face revealing his cyborg skull. A classic gimmick reminiscent of the old Terminator movie. It’s funny to see all the detail in the cyborg eye socket, but his other eye is simply a black dot. What the hell.
Next, I noticed he’s outfitted in a cloth, black karate uniform (properly referred to as a “gi”). This reminded me of the Karate Defenders toyline. But then, I noticed his body is a generic mold taken from the classic Masters of the Universe toyline (yep, another one). He has the same torso, arm and hand poses, etc. The only thing “weird” was his legs.
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They aren’t regular “he-man” legs. Look. He’s actually wearing pinstriped pants under his karate pants. Very weird.
I felt kind of dirty pulling his pants down like that.
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So with a little bit of “research” online and a bit of info from a newly found toy buddy of mine (thanks for the tips Justin), I was lead to a toyline called “Combo Heroes.” These figures look like the classic MOTU figures and come equipped with vest, shield and weapons.
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In these pics I found, you can see the cyborg face guy. He’s definitely different from the one I’ve featured here. Who knows? There are so many bootlegs and bootlegs of bootlegs out there, what I have here is probably some messed-up homemade custom. Fortunately, it found a home on my shelf
If anyone has some good info on the origin of this figure, please share. I’d love to know what this toy is. Until then, I’ll call him Karate Cyborg.
Next we have this odd Hulk head Madball wannabe.
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He looks cool enough as is. Just an odd Marvel Comics’ decapitation toy. The toy is rubbery and squishy, and when you squeeze him…
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… he vomits a giant ball of slime containing a single fist and a brain.
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Huh?
So, either he’s eaten someone recently and decided to cough things up, or these floating bits are supposed to be symbolic of the Hulk’s inner rage and the dual-minded intelligence of his alter-ego, Bruce Banner.
Or it could be I’m over-thinking it. It’s just a goofy, gross toy. Great!!
Looks like the sculpting and painting is better, the puke bubble is chock full of innards, and the head actually has a sound chip which plays Hulk sounds when tapped. Mine doesn’t have that! Unfair!
Also, while looking for “Metamorphs,” I found out about a toyline of the same name made up of transforming Marvel character robots.
That’s a bit confusing. Not sure if it’s a screw-up, or maybe they just hope we will forget about the crummy robot toys.
Well, thanks for reading everybody, and thanks again Mistuh_Thye for the awesome toys and subject matter for another blog entry.
Just like his counterpart, Lil’ Jesus is risen from the dead. There’s been an update to the WWLJD – What Would Lil’ Jesus Do? entry. Take a look-see at the toy’s missing scenery (which actually provides us with another clue).
