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The same could likely be said of all projectiles, in my experience.
Let's get onto Part 2!
While my focus was on video games, (Check out Zonugal's video games challenge thread from this summer for that doozy of a backlog) cartoons being a staple of afternoon and Saturday morning entertainment gave me plenty of wishlists for toys. Despite being a fan of Power Rangers, I never owned a Power Ranger action figure. Instead, my Dad found it more palatable to support my growing interest in super heroes with various figures.
Most prominently, I had a Spider-Man, Kingpin and Green Goblin from the 1994 animated series toyline, and it was a slight bit of annoyance on my part as I wanted Hobgoblin since he was more prominently featured on the cartoon, but my dad knew his stuff and in time I grew to appreciate having the classic goblin over the pretender. But really I wanted all the villains to fight my spidey, and that's mostly down to me spreading my interests so thin.
I had a couple other Marvel things, including a Marvel Pocket Comics playset with Beast vs. Magneto, a novel match up to say the least.
But also, I had this rather novel projector Iron Man, which essentially used similar principles to the Viewmaster to project stills from a cartoon on the wall. It's not missile launchers and a whole playset, but it's still neat.
Sadly, one toy I wanted eluded me all my youth. I never got an X-Men Sentinel toy which would've made a colossal boss fight for my army of figures. However, the joy of giant robots would be fed in a very different way. For those who don't quite recall the heady days of 1994, when it seemed we were hurtling towards the future at breakneck speed, all kinds of cartoons were getting green lit. Western Mech fans were treated to the exploits of Exosquad first, but soon we also got an adaptation from the 60 ton assault gorilla of Western Giant Robot franchises, Battletech. My dad was a Mechwarrior of old, and so even though the show was very kiddy, my requests for the toys in it's line was met with great enthusiasm.
Missiles? Battle Damage? Aw yah, that's the stuff
As I alluded to before though, it wasn't just big things that enthused me, I also loved the stuff in miniature. In particular the phenomenon that was Mighty Max. Screw baseball cards, showing off your Mighty Max set was the 90s boy equivalent of the business card scene from American Psycho. And buddy, once I knew what I wanted, I got a deluge of those sets, including 3 of the top end sets: Skull Mountain, Magmus, and Dragon Island.
(CW: Snake and Spider)
The bang for the buck on these things was off the charts and we'll never see their like again. It even inspired a subgenre in toys as companies tried to chase the sweet Polly Pocket/Mighty Max bucks, and you bet your sweet bippy I had several of these too
And of course, with Star Wars getting a fresh injection of merch in the mid-90s, I collected a lot of the Action Fleet (And still have those ships stowed away in a parental storage unit somewhere)
This also meant I reupped a bunch of my Star Wars action figures and supplemented with some of the EU ones that came out as well. I won't do images for all of them but suffice to say I had at least 1 iteration of most of the major characters, and then a Prince Xizor cause we were all young and foolish at some point.
One year, my aunt got us disc launchers that you could swoosh and made noises when you fired them.
A friend who was moving away granted me a copious amount of Hot Wheels track that I used to make room spanning tracks with little regard for physics
At some point I got introduced to K'Nex, it only really took off for me when they started doing Spaceman playsets
And naturally, this prepped me for when Bionicles dropped in my teens. I have all 6 original Toa, a couple of Bohrok and Rakshi, and then at least a couple of the Toa Nuva.
That covers a lot of the toys I had in my misspent youth, there were some other sundries but I don't feel like tracking all those down. Hopefully this shakes loose more memories for folks and we can all at least swap fun stories even if we can't just hang out and fuck around with toys. (This also doesn't recover the brief GI Joe and Transformers stints I had in my early 20s, which were fun, but probably should've been more directed into longer last pursuits)
I loved loved loved the old Spider-Man toys, that animated series line is legendary imo
Toy Biz has the benefit of rose tinted glasses but, they did things back then that put Hasbro to shame now
But yeah I definitely had those mini TMNT sets and loved them, and had that tie fighter disc launcher too lol
Yah, Toy Biz was kinda wonky at points, but at least they swung for the fences on stuff.
Spider-Man '94 can get silly at points, but it's heart is in the right place, is a decent intro to Spider-Man and certainly feels like a comic book run committed to screen.
"Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
Because I have bought lego castle sets on ebay
I did get Black Falcon's and the crusader one as a bundle
I had a couple Black Falcon shields that I was never quite sure where they came from. For Lego in the 90s, it was mostly about Ice Planet and Aquanauts for me, even though I lusted after all the castles, castle variants (Looking at you Fort Legoredo) and pirate/islander stuff that was on display and my friends got for their birthdays.
"Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
I absolutely got 2 of the bigger Ninja Sets when I was dabbling back in Lego several years back. So many cool designs in that line. And still have the Dragula from the Monster set, that shit's cash.
Matev on
"Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
I had my bionicles up until highschool but I lost a ton of stuff that was left in storage and then rummaged through by various family members
In fact my very first YouTube upload was a fake toy ad I made for a school project, and in the first 5 seconds I can see all my high school era toys https://youtu.be/a14U_DOQab0?si=GX5unVljrhuOgN--
Various Gundams, different Spartans from Halo, a 12 inch Threepio, Homestar Runner figurines, adult swim toys ATHF and Harvey Birdman, Canti from FLCL, various original run Marvel Legends such as Doctor Strange, Beast, Spidey. I see an Ed Alric, Majin Buu, Tenchi Muyo, General Grievous...
All those plastic memories, gone, like tears in the rain
I picked up that 90s Spider-Man and that 90s Ice Man toy, both of them at Mandarake on separate trips to Japan. So someone bought those toys, brought them to Japan either back in the day or some time between then, and then I went to Japan, saw them and bought them because I had them as a kid, and brought them all the way back around the world again to the US
A memory has been reawakened when I saw the Batmobile toy. I had one as well, but it wasn't that one. It was a dark gray version that was actually the Batmobile and, if you pulled out the back half it revealed the Batplane or water skimmer or whatever was. It was also almost entirely plastic except the metal hinges to let the wings fold in so it went into the bath a LOT. I think I played with that single half of the toy more than I ever did the combined whole.
I'm not even sure I could find a picture of it anymore. It was very basic as far as toys go.
A memory has been reawakened when I saw the Batmobile toy. I had one as well, but it wasn't that one. It was a dark gray version that was actually the Batmobile and, if you pulled out the back half it revealed the Batplane or water skimmer or whatever was. It was also almost entirely plastic except the metal hinges to let the wings fold in so it went into the bath a LOT. I think I played with that single half of the toy more than I ever did the combined whole.
I'm not even sure I could find a picture of it anymore. It was very basic as far as toys go.
Oh my kingdom for a good boat toy when I was that young. I did a brief jaunt and despite being deluged with a more modern tumbler type design that looks downright miserable, I found another toy that might just be your card, especially since I don't see a dedicated Batboat toy for Batman Returns.
I finally got what I wished for one year with a Doctor Dreadful Set, the Creepy Clinic
While the results were indeed gross, I was not a big fan of grainy gelatin and vaguely fruity juice made in a beaker. Perhaps if I came back as an adult, I could do those treats justice, but also I can now just make kickass food and if I need it to look weird, I'll just sculpt it or serve it in faux labware.
"Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
Even though TMNT was my favourite cartoon, I never got any turtles toys because I was a girl. My brother got them, and he had that food lab set, and CrossFire.
I had an Easy Bake Oven which was cool. And a flower making basket where you use dough to make flowers. And dolls that do weird things.
We did have Mousetrap and Grape Escape and 13 Deadend Drive because we always got a board game for Christmas every year.
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amateurhourOne day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered Userregular
Anyone remember the Tyco RC days?
big ass nicad batteries that took 4 hours to charge for 15 minutes of run time? The hover boat was the best one because everyone immediately took it to the lake and it sank.
big ass nicad batteries that took 4 hours to charge for 15 minutes of run time? The hover boat was the best one because everyone immediately took it to the lake and it sank.
Nothing more deflating on Christmas then being excited to play with your new toy and then having to charge it for half the day.
I'm pretty sure I got tired of every RC toy quickly because the steering was bad and they weren't as fun as the commercials.
Armageddon Outta Here and Armageddon Closer: if I remember rightly
Virgil and Norman die, which they knew would happen because of the Lemurian prophecy despite Max trying to save them, and Skullmaster takes the portal cap which turns into a crown (despite it being shown as a cap in a flashback to an earlier Cap Bearer who sacrificed himself to keep it out of the hands of unstoppable zombies, suggesting either that the cap changes based on the wearer or Skullmaster is powerful enough to enact his will upon it)
Max then uses the power of Stonehenge to reverse time back to when he first got the cap, and realises that he has a second chance to do everything right this time
[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
+4
DemonStaceyTTODewback's DaughterIn love with the TaySwayRegistered Userregular
Yesss! What a crazy ride of a cartoon tie-in for kids toys.
Did anyone else play with multiple toy lines as some sort of crossover?
I had lots of GI Joes, a few TMNT toys, I remember fugitoid and Usagi Yojimbo, Space Yojimbo, the four armed duck dude, the man bat in the Adam West Batman suit, and a rat master or something?
Usagi Yojimbo and Storm Shadow used to kick the shit out of everyone else, Space Yojimbo and Rat Master were aliens who allied with Cobra, good times
There was a line of sergeant savage or something too, that were like scaled closer to TMNT than GI Joe, those were "future super humans" or something in my imagination
Also I had like five different versions of snake eyes and decided they were brothers
Bucky O’Hare whips, and I was sad I never got any of the toys, same with Mummies Alive.
As for crossovers, I’d sometimes ‘cross the streams’ when I was little, but by my teens, I was definitely constructing day long narratives of a lone K’Nex braving the heights and depths of my room, fighting off various denizens with the Bionicles as bosses and various cinematic transitions to different ‘zones’ of the room.
Matev on
"Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
valhalla13013 Dark Shield Perceives the GodsRegistered Userregular
We had lots of different lines growing up. GI Joe, Star Wars(those were probably the biggest two,) but i had a Sectaur, the Bucky O'Hare action figure, lots of Lego, a couple of Visionaries (I think those were the ones with holograms on their chest that were wood, water, fire, etc.)
Crossbows and Catapults was fun.
And as much as I wanted them, I never did get the Six Million Dollar Man action figures in the 70's. Steve Austin had a hole in the back of his head that you could look thru and see his robot vision or something. There was a similarly sized action figure (12") that I recall being clear plastic, so you could see the robot parts inside, that also had a similar vision thing thru the back of his head. But try as I might, I can't find out what it was. None of the Bionic Man stuff looks like what I remember. And maybe its just my 7 year old memory.
Posts
I loved loved loved the old Spider-Man toys, that animated series line is legendary imo
Toy Biz has the benefit of rose tinted glasses but, they did things back then that put Hasbro to shame now
But yeah I definitely had those mini TMNT sets and loved them, and had that tie fighter disc launcher too lol
I did get Black Falcon's and the crusader one as a bundle
Spider-Man '94 can get silly at points, but it's heart is in the right place, is a decent intro to Spider-Man and certainly feels like a comic book run committed to screen.
I had a couple Black Falcon shields that I was never quite sure where they came from. For Lego in the 90s, it was mostly about Ice Planet and Aquanauts for me, even though I lusted after all the castles, castle variants (Looking at you Fort Legoredo) and pirate/islander stuff that was on display and my friends got for their birthdays.
I made this meme that basically has all my childhood favorite Lego sets in there
That Monster Train, the early Ninja sets and those Adventurer sets in Egypt all slapped beyond hard, as did Ice Planet and Blacktron
In fact my very first YouTube upload was a fake toy ad I made for a school project, and in the first 5 seconds I can see all my high school era toys
Various Gundams, different Spartans from Halo, a 12 inch Threepio, Homestar Runner figurines, adult swim toys ATHF and Harvey Birdman, Canti from FLCL, various original run Marvel Legends such as Doctor Strange, Beast, Spidey. I see an Ed Alric, Majin Buu, Tenchi Muyo, General Grievous...
All those plastic memories, gone, like tears in the rain
That lego filter at the end is pretty neat
Cool thing to do, me
I'm not even sure I could find a picture of it anymore. It was very basic as far as toys go.
I had this!
It was gross!
Oh also I had some beast wars guys. I think the bee and the ant.
Oh my kingdom for a good boat toy when I was that young. I did a brief jaunt and despite being deluged with a more modern tumbler type design that looks downright miserable, I found another toy that might just be your card, especially since I don't see a dedicated Batboat toy for Batman Returns.
I finally got what I wished for one year with a Doctor Dreadful Set, the Creepy Clinic
While the results were indeed gross, I was not a big fan of grainy gelatin and vaguely fruity juice made in a beaker. Perhaps if I came back as an adult, I could do those treats justice, but also I can now just make kickass food and if I need it to look weird, I'll just sculpt it or serve it in faux labware.
I had an Easy Bake Oven which was cool. And a flower making basket where you use dough to make flowers. And dolls that do weird things.
We did have Mousetrap and Grape Escape and 13 Deadend Drive because we always got a board game for Christmas every year.
big ass nicad batteries that took 4 hours to charge for 15 minutes of run time? The hover boat was the best one because everyone immediately took it to the lake and it sank.
*for a few minutes
Nothing more deflating on Christmas then being excited to play with your new toy and then having to charge it for half the day.
I'm pretty sure I got tired of every RC toy quickly because the steering was bad and they weren't as fun as the commercials.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
Yessss! I had this too!
Where my Mighty Max fans at?
That whole show was wild. I remember the ending being especially so.
Max then uses the power of Stonehenge to reverse time back to when he first got the cap, and realises that he has a second chance to do everything right this time
I had lots of GI Joes, a few TMNT toys, I remember fugitoid and Usagi Yojimbo, Space Yojimbo, the four armed duck dude, the man bat in the Adam West Batman suit, and a rat master or something?
Usagi Yojimbo and Storm Shadow used to kick the shit out of everyone else, Space Yojimbo and Rat Master were aliens who allied with Cobra, good times
Also I had like five different versions of snake eyes and decided they were brothers
Shit got complicated
https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Ace_Duck_(1989_action_figure)
What was that early 90s rabbit and robots thing? Bucky something? It felt like a sibling property to TMNT... I think it had a duck dude?
I hope this doesn't summon Ernie Kline
Bucky O'Hare!
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
Also one of the best NES games out there at the time.
Although, looking at both figures, we definitely had the two armed TMNT duck dude
As for crossovers, I’d sometimes ‘cross the streams’ when I was little, but by my teens, I was definitely constructing day long narratives of a lone K’Nex braving the heights and depths of my room, fighting off various denizens with the Bionicles as bosses and various cinematic transitions to different ‘zones’ of the room.
Crossbows and Catapults was fun.
And as much as I wanted them, I never did get the Six Million Dollar Man action figures in the 70's. Steve Austin had a hole in the back of his head that you could look thru and see his robot vision or something. There was a similarly sized action figure (12") that I recall being clear plastic, so you could see the robot parts inside, that also had a similar vision thing thru the back of his head. But try as I might, I can't find out what it was. None of the Bionic Man stuff looks like what I remember. And maybe its just my 7 year old memory.