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Con Suite => Comics, Books, and Toys! => Topic started by: perc2100 on July 15, 2021, 04:35:43 PM

Title: Favorite old school toys long gone
Post by: perc2100 on July 15, 2021, 04:35:43 PM
I was talking with a few friends today about some of the towlines that haven't been rebooted, and seem lost to time.  While plenty of stuff from BITD is still kicking around (He-Man is one of the more surprising to me), TONS of stuff isn't: many, if I'm being honest, for good reason.  I'm a kid of the 80's, so our focus was of that era.
Some of my favorites that haven't relaunched (yet):
* MASK - the animated series is on Amazon Prime, but these toys were AMAZING to me when I was a kid.  There was some good guy organization (MASK - Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) vs some bad guy organization (VENOM, the Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem) where they wore cool Masks that hare various individual powers (one a mere laser ala X-men's Cyclops; one levitated large objects; one shot stiletto blades, etc).  Not only that, they drove vehicles that 'transferred' into armored things: a 57 Chevy that changed to a pseudo-tank; a trans-am that transformed into a pseudo-jet; a helicopter that transformed into a jet.  These were really cool.  Maid by Hasbro, it's odd they haven't relaunched this one yet (https://theroarbots.com/fire-away-the-14-best-m-a-s-k-toys-that-hit-like-a-nostalgia-bullet/ (https://theroarbots.com/fire-away-the-14-best-m-a-s-k-toys-that-hit-like-a-nostalgia-bullet/)).  A few years ago I was in the awesome toy store Big Fun in Columbus, OH (they sell mostly vintage toys), and I had to get the Condor motorcycle/helicopter!
* M.U.S.C.L.E Men - these were cool, and like MASK figures, they easily fit in a kid's pocket.  I had a TON of these (they could be bought in a 4-pack, or large packs of figures), and there was even a fun wrestling ring they could fight.  For me and some friends, these were like marbles: we would fight each other, with the winner taking the loser's MUSCLE figure.  These were rubber, and not possible, but there were hundreds of figures and many of these were bizarrely entertaining (https://thetoyarchives.com/blog/the-history-of-m-u-s-c-l-e-action-figures/ (https://thetoyarchives.com/blog/the-history-of-m-u-s-c-l-e-action-figures/))
* Madballs - I wasn't an athletic kid (I'm a musician so I was the bando type), although I did well in soccer.  Mad Balls were made for kids like me: about the size of a baseball, they had monsters and other graphic/gory designs.  They were easily broken, like nerf balls were pieces broke off over time, but this was a way to get me to throw a ball around with my friends more into sports.  I was a horror movie buff, even as a youngin (I saw A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET in theaters when I was 8), so this was right up my alley!  My parents never cared, unlike others.  (https://www.everything80spodcast.com/madballs/ (https://www.everything80spodcast.com/madballs/))
* Sectaurs - there were large 'bug puppets' that He-Man-sized action figures rode into battle.  The bad guys wrote spiders!  This again played into my horror movie sensibility, and while I didn't play with these a ton (and didn't have a lot of em), they were fascinating to me when I was 9.  I think these didn't last very long (https://www.sectaurs.com/the-toys (https://www.sectaurs.com/the-toys))
* Spiral Zone - I think I dug these because the good guys reminded me a lot of the Colonial Marines from ALIENS.  The concept, complete with cartoon since most action figure toys had a cartoon in the 80's (before Congress passed laws making 1) cartoons be educational and 2) can't be just a long-form toy commercial), consisted of bad guys who turned the world into various 'zones,' that made most people zombies.  Nations of the world banded together to fight them, with the good guy figures (about the size of original GI Joe, complete with cloth uniforms) wearing light grey camo and the bad guys looking like street punks in a Troma film sporting red.  This was another one, like Sectaurs, that I think only lasted a year or two and I didn't have too many figures (and zero vehicles), but I mostly played "Colonial Marines vs Troma Zombies" with them (I was a weird kid)
http://www.virtualtoychest.com/s/spiral/spiral.html

Are there any that you remember fondly?
Title: Re: Favorite old school toys long gone
Post by: Michaelnaut on July 15, 2021, 04:57:36 PM
Wow, what a great topic! I could write a ton here, but below are my top 3.

* Micronauts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronauts) - This was I think my favorite toy line growing up. The ability to take the figures, vehicles, all of them, and change parts, reconfigure them, offered unlimited (for a kid) possibilities. Also related to this, the Marvel series of this (when they had the license for it) was, and still is, a big favorite of mine.  Michael Golden, Butch Guice, early Kelley Jones...was a great series of books, and the art of those guys, just plain awesome.

* Transformers - Does anything really more need to be said? I still have a Gen 1 Jetfire w/all the pieces.

* TCR: Total Control Racing - Modular tracks (much like mini slot cars) where you can buy all different little tracks and make different patters, designs.  I would play w/them so much I'd wear the metal contacts under the cars out.
Title: Re: Favorite old school toys long gone
Post by: perc2100 on July 17, 2021, 12:24:33 PM
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Wow, what a great topic! I could write a ton here, but below are my top 3.

* Micronauts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronauts) - This was I think my favorite toy line growing up. The ability to take the figures, vehicles, all of them, and change parts, reconfigure them, offered unlimited (for a kid) possibilities. Also related to this, the Marvel series of this (when they had the license for it) was, and still is, a big favorite of mine.  Michael Golden, Butch Guice, early Kelley Jones...was a great series of books, and the art of those guys, just plain awesome.

* Transformers - Does anything really more need to be said? I still have a Gen 1 Jetfire w/all the pieces.

* TCR: Total Control Racing - Modular tracks (much like mini slot cars) where you can buy all different little tracks and make different patters, designs.  I would play w/them so much I'd wear the metal contacts under the cars out.
Oh yeah, I totally forgot about TCR!  That was so much fun, even if it was mostly cars running in circles.  I even had a set that was for Dukes of Hazzard with the General Lee vs Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane that I 'raced' for hours and hours!  My friends and I use to race those things, always hoping to see a 'spark' or whatever that would occasionally happen & make us feel like we were doing real life dangerous auto racing  ;D