If you aren't following Toys and Tomfoolery on Instagram, then I got no sympathy for you. His posts are always top notch and filled with interesting facts on the toys that he has displayed. I quickly became a fan of his photos and wittiness, seeing his reviews of G.I. Joes, and his Masters of the Universe figures, so the next course, naturally was to throw some questions at the guy. Here's what transpired!
Tell me about your name and a bit about yourself please?
Tell me about your name and a bit about yourself please?
Well, I go by the name "Alexx" online, which is a carry-over from when I was a kid and would use a different four-letter name every time I played "Marble Madness." It asked for a name, and I would input different ones, until I found I liked "Alex", so I kept doing that. Cut through the years, and you'd find me using "Alex" for EVERYTHING that required a name, video game wise. Nearly all the RPGs I played have the main character named "Alex", and after awhile, it just became tradition. Naturally, when we got the internet (maybe around '97?) I made my email address and AOL name "Alexx", so it just stuck with me. I ended up doing the same tradition for forums, and so...I am known as Alexx, for the most part. I mildly regret it, since there are so many unique usernames out there, and mine is just a name.
As for the blog and instagram being called "Toys and Tomfoolery", well, I liked the name! I figured it got across the idea of "I like toys" and "I don't take them seriously" in one simple name. Plus it's alliterative, and who doesn't like alliteration?
When did you start your excellent blog? What made you start it?
I started it in 2012, mostly as a way to collect all the random forum photography I did. The biggest thing was He-Man figures, or Masters of the Universe Classics. I had a subscription to the figures, so every time I got one, I would take some pictures and do some jokes. I would get questioned about whether or not I put all the jokes in one place, and of course, the answer was always "Sorry! They're hidden within pages and pages of various posts throughout the forum." Eventually I felt like it was time to learn some basic internet junk and start a blog. Everyone has a blog! Should be simple enough.
Turns out it was, at least, at the time I started. I had wanted to do something like a blog for years, but I was behind in the ways of the internet (being forever trapped in the 90's) so I always thought of it like running a website. The Blogger format was simple and nearly everything but your content is taken care of, so it ended up being a nice and simple way to do exactly what I wanted. I started out consolidating my MotUC pictures, and then branched out from there; either posting other pictures I had originally used on forums, or finally doing brand new reviews! The reviews mostly took over, since I often get new toys and want to share my interests through comedy. Naturally, as time went by, and since my child was born, finding time has been a bit more of a chore. The blog is currently inundated with my old G.I. Joe reviews, originally on two websites: Joebattlelines, and Joesightings. Joesightings eventually bit the dust, and Joebattlelines' forums crashed, so all my reviews were nowhere to be found. Thankfully I had backed them up, and now they're being used as filler while I take care of my kid, clean my toy room, and try to get myself into a new groove so I can continue to review toys.
Actually, my lack of time directly influenced the creation of my instagram, as it's much easier to take and post a picture or two without having to sit down and edit photos on my computer. It does, however, leave me wanting in terms of my desire to make little comics with the figures.
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| The first joke I did with MotUC, and the first of many reasons why I started the blog. |
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| A select few early MotUC pictures |
You have a great eye for photography, is that something that you have always been into or was that recent?
That's mostly recent, though, on any childhood trip, my parents usually bought my brother and I some disposable cameras. I never thought to take photos of toys, back then, but I was always fond of scenery, animals, and the like. I'd be curious to see what young me would have done with a camera if I could go back and show him what I do now, because I'm sure he just hadn't thought of it and probably would have tried to make little movies with the photos.
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| Some shots I'm actually proud to call "photography" instead of just "pictures of toys" |
What was your inspiration for doing toy photography?
That's a couple things. First is the fact that I had always thought of toys as my little actors. Any time I was on the ground, playing with toys, it wasn't just acting out what I saw on TV - I was usually playing out some long, drawn-out storyline. There were many stories and, a vast majority of the time, the toys were playing roles I gave them, rather than what the toy actually was. The exceptions were the Superhero toys, though, I still did my own stories with them, and they were involved in my longest-running story, which I think ran from as far back as I can remember, on into early high school (I finally decided to start writing sometime in high school, and the massive toy stories started to fall to the wayside).
I suppose those old interests eventually inspired what became my toy photography. The thing that actually sparked it was G.I. Joe; specifically the "Rise of Cobra" movie, in 2009. Before then, I had done some small reviews for Joes, just because I wanted to get my thoughts across and I was excited to get toys before anyone else (which happened rarely). The movie figures are what changed my direction from "Look, I found something before everyone else, for once!" to "Hey, why aren't you people more excited for these toys?" It was something you saw all the time, in collecting: They redesign characters, or a movie comes out and the characters are based on actors and look nothing like the classic characters anymore, so collectors ignored the toys. I had bought a few, and they were VASTLY improved upon, when compared to the figures before them. I started taking pictures, trying to show people how well they posed, and how awesome they looked, if you gave them a chance. Those pictures turned into my old Joe reviews I talked about (that are currently being posted on my blog), called "Alexx Shorts", in that they were supposed to be a short look at toys that I had believed no one was paying attention to. The "Short" eventually became "Long and lots of pictures", when I started adding my brand of humor more and more. As time went by, people seemed to appreciate my humor, so I continued until my G.I. Joe steam ran out.
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| My earliest Joe photo that kicked off the Alexx Shorts, and a pose I'm still proud of. |
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| Storm Shadow fighting a wolf with a sword |
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| The evolution of my Joe photos, years later. |
Do you use anything fancy for your shoots or just your phone?
Well, before Instagram, I used whatever camera I had on hand. Originally it was my wife's, and then she bought me my own, sometime back when I started the Joe reviews in 2009. That camera died only a few years ago, and she bought me this fancy one that takes great pictures....assuming I use the right modes and all the features. I've figured a lot out, but I'm far from understanding all the things it can do. Beyond that, the fanciest I got was editing pictures on the Paint program and adding in the dialogue and effects. I should really learn how to use some sort of editing software, though. Once I get that down, I'm sure things will look much better - especially since the lighting in my house is nowhere near as good as the lighting in my old apartment, where all the old Joe reviews were done.
I do use my phone for Instagram, though. It would be worse than the camera, but Instagram's build-in effects are actually pretty useful, and work toward fixing up an otherwise mediocre picture. This is why I need an editing program! If effects can doll up a phone picture, then they can probably take the fancy pictures from my camera and make them AMAZING.
The short answer is: "No, but I want to use something fancy." I see people take such awesome action shots and I'd like to do the same, sometime. I just need to learn some new tricks!
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| Fancy camera shot, edited only by resizing in paint program |
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| Phone shot, enhanced with Instagram editing tools, just photographed on my couch in the basement |
You have been knocking it out of the park lately with your Masters of the Universe pictures on your instagram. You always mix enough information and memory to make it very personable. I remember reading about Nathan Bitner winning the make your own figure contest when I was in 6th grade. Did you ever have a figure in mind that you wanted to see made? Did you ever go so far as to draw it, or try to make a custom MOTU figure?
Thank you! That took off way more than I thought it would, and my number of followers kinda skyrocketed for a bit there. I felt like the pictures were simple enough, but I'm glad everyone is enjoying them and - most importantly - reading what I wrote! I'm known for being wordy (written or out loud) so I always worry about talking too much. It really made me happy that people were not only praising the photos, but my blabbering as well!
The farthest I went, in terms of custom MotU, was using the old weapons packs to outfit my toys, back in the day. I often added black Zodac armor and a blue axe to Scare Glow...for some reason. But that wasn't so much a custom MotU figure as it was outfitting him differently to fight my Superheroes. Somehow I never ended up making much for MotU, beyond my own stories. When it came to designing characters, they were usually for stories I made up myself, and I would trace Superhero bodies from a "how to draw" book and fill in all the details myself. If I wasn't doing that, I was drawing robots. Just...endless robots. All the time. And swords.
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| Customizing MotUC figures with simple head and armor swaps |
Do you have a favorite toy designer and why?
I wasn't too aware of designer names until The Four Horsemen, so it seems kind of a cop-out to just name them as my favorite, but what can I say? They're awesome! It all started with the 2002 He-Man revival. Toyfare magazine interviewed them and that got their name in my head. I found out later that they had sculpted plenty of things before that (many that I already owned) but it was after the 2002 He-Man stuff that I started actually trying to follow their work. Considering how much I love their current "Mythic Legions" toyline, well...I have to say that they are still a favorite! They know how to heavily articulate a toy without making the articulation look obvious, and I always appreciate that.
A close second is Boss Fight Studios, which is composed of many toy designers that have designed a lot of the toys I collected before they got together. They've also had a hand in making many Joe-scaled indie toys ROCK, as well as their own toys. When G.I. Joe started to get cold and nearly die off, Boss Fight picked up a glowing coal from the fire and started their own fire, in the same style, but branching out into many different themes.
I'm probably forgetting a lot of designers, either that, or some of my favorite toys were designed by people whose names I don't know. Like with the toyline "I am Elemental." They made one 6 inch action figure recently; I don't know who personally designed it, but the articulation is superb and blows away current 6 inch Superhero articulation schemes. Whoever did it needs to keep going, because it rocks and that style needs to be applied all over the place.
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| Four Horsemen sculpting at it's best |
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| Boss Fight's Vitruvian H.A.C.K.S. |
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| Boss Fight's sculpting for the Marauder Task Force figures |
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| I Am Elemental's 6 inch Courage figure |
Do you have a favorite Indie toy maker?
The introduction of Instagram has brought a ton of new indie designers to my attention, and I'm swimming in bold new ideas and figures. BUT...to tell you the truth, the answer is probably still simple. It has to be Onell Design's Matt Doughty, with his Glyos line of figures, and the fact that the Glyos peg system has been used to not only start a ton of other great toylines, but also to bring them all together in one big Glyos family of parts swapping. If you have anything that used the Glyos peg system, then there are a bunch of choices that let you branch out, in terms of parts. Glyos is awesome by itself as well, of course! The alien designs - both organic and robotic at the same time - are so unique that you can't really say: "Oh, I've seen that before.", especially at this point. You see Glyos, you KNOW it's Glyos, but before they got big, they were still toys that made you do a mad dash to google to find out what they were.
That said, if I had to pick a line out of the multitudes of Glyos compatible toy lines, it would have to be Battle Tribes, by Spy Monkey Creations. Spy Monkey has gone through a few products here and there, but Battle Tribes is the break-out WINNER. You could tell that the creator was stepping carefully, because this was obviously a labor of love and he didn't want it to fail. Low and behold - it TOOK. OFF. The first wave sold faster than Sonic on a chilidog, and every drop since has had people flocking to get the next wave (thankfully numbers were adjusted so they didn't sell out as fast, save for the latest drop, which unveiled some new parts like wings, new heads, and weapons). Battle Tribes scratches that old 80's barbarian itch (which you should get looked at by a doctor, by the way) and covers everything from simple, small, easy to transport toys, to the customizer in all of us that just wants to build and build and build until the line is only recognizable by the collector. You can do whatever you want with it, and if you want more than simple barbarians or monsters, you can add in other Glyos parts to build cyborgs and horrors the likes of which only Cthulhu could love.
So while Battle Tribes is probably my top pick, I can't ignore the fact that Glyos makes it all happen. It's such a great way to start a toyline. Battle Tribes are awesome and would do fine without the swapping, but there's no toyline out there that couldn't use help taking off, and there's no better help than the whole army of Glyos collectors ready and willing to buy your product just because it's compatible with everything they've bought so far.
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| Glyos and Battle Tribes together. |
All collectors have a "holy grail". Have you obtained yours or is it still out of grasp? Can you tell me about it?
There have been a lot of "Grails" over the years. Some of them have just kind of fallen to the wayside, because I don't collect vintage stuff so much anymore, unless it was unique. For instance, there were a lot of old Toybiz superheroes that I wanted, but they've since been made in Marvel Legends, so I no longer feel the need for the old ones. I suppose there's at least one thing that really qualifies, and it's a "right place at the right time with the right friend" kind of story.
The toy is "Pocket Power Glo-Bones." Sega's "Pocket Power" line was all pocket-sized toys, usually fitted into a card about the size of a credit card (though, thicker than a credit card, of course). The best one - no question - was Glo-Bones. He was a flat skeleton that fit into the card, along with a shield, sword, axe, and helmet. Everything snapped in place, so you could slide him in your pocket and have awesome skeleton action wherever you went. I saw a commercial for it, way back when, and was instantly drawn to it. For one: I love skeletons. For two: I love glow in the dark things. And finally, for three: Anything I could fit in my pocket was usually my favorite (Z-Bots, for instance, were awesome tiny robots that I brought with me everywhere).
I never saw Glo-Bones in any stores, and so much time passed that I started to wonder if I had made it up. I searched online, from time to time, and usually came up with nothing, until a few years ago. I don't remember what made me think of it again, but I did my usual search, having no name and only "Uhh...it was a pocket skeleton and it might not have really existed?" as a description. Well "pocket skeleton" finally yielded some results, and I found a review of the exact toy. I had a name! I knew what it was! I COULD SEARCH FOR IT, FINALLY! Naturally, Ebay had maybe two for sale: One broken one, and one exorbitantly priced. I had nothing else to do but tell a friend about it, at least to share my excitement about finally figuring out what it was, and then - by some act of a higher power - my friend responds: "Yeah, I have that. Pretty much perfect condition. You want it?"
The answer, of course, was "OMG YES" and the result was a rare one: There's only a slim chance that what you've wanted for ages is actually any good, or could possibly live up to the hype you've built. Well, Glo-Bones was awesome, and is still awesome. It very much is just what I wanted back then. Granted, I would have destroyed it. No question. Not in a dumb way, but through use - it would have been in my pocket at all times. I would have lost some accessories, or something would have broken from taking him in and out of the card so many times. But man, it would have gotten used, and I would have loved it. I still love it. Awesome toy.
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| Glo-Bones! |
Do you have a favorite toy illustrator, like Ken Kelly, Hector Garrido or Rudy Obrero? Do you have an obscure favorite?
That's a tough question, 'cause I'm actually ashamed to say that I don't know the names of many of the toy artists that lent their superb skills to selling those old toys I grew up with. I've even read some stories about how little they were paid for such AMAZING artwork, and it's a crime. The art sold the toy as much as the cartoon or the ads, honestly. And you don't see art like that on toys so much anymore, though I realize that statement sounds like it diminishes the work of current package artists. There's still some amazing package art out there, but there's something about the old oil-painting quality of the old stuff.
Anyway, off the top of my head, I could name Alfredo Alcala, as a favorite, for his work on the old MotU mini comics. Those early mini comics were the ones that stuck in my brain the most, so his art is very nostalgic. I don't want to leave out people from nowadays, though, so I'll also name Axel Gimenez for all his current work on MotU and the new mini comics that went with the Classics toy line. He pumped out SO much awesome artwork for Classics, and brought to life a lot of classic and new stuff that was great to see in the new mini comics.
Do you think toy companies are having a harder time now getting the attention of children? Do you think children today are not as swayed as earlier generations by an unknown toy on a shelf that spoke to them?
Awhile ago I would have said yes, no question. Around the early to mid 2000's I felt like I had witnessed - numerous times - children in the toy isle with parents, where the parents say "you can get one thing" and the kid responds with "Can't I just get a video game?" I can't argue completely, since I am also a fan of video games, and they took over my life quite a bit, once I was able to get my hands on them (my parents never bought me any systems, and they were right to do so, since, when I bought my own, I did nothing but work on games). I grew up in a different time, though, so toys and video games are still very separate to me. I still get super excited when a video game character gets a toy, when they've never had a toy before. Heck, I used to spend time customizing G.I. Joes to be Mega Man characters! They're both very near and dear to me. Kid's today - or then, around the 2000's - grew up with video games right off the bat. I could certainly see how their stories and skills went hand in hand with games, rather than wanting to play out stories with toys.
Now, though? I'm not entirely certain what has changed, but I feel like toys are making a slight comeback, if only in a small way. It's certainly an uphill battle, but I don't feel like they're going the way of the Dodo, like I used to. You can see playsets on the shelves again - and not collecting dust! Maybe not flying off the shelves, but they are still selling. Back in the 2000's it felt like no one could sell them without making them super foldable, or they just didn't bother to do playsets at all. On top of that, toys are starting to feel like TOYS again! For awhile there, it felt like they were getting more and more complex with smaller and smaller accessories. Were these all just for collectors? There's still something to be said about collecting honest to goodness TOYS - things that are just fun to play around with. And with stuff like Transformers: Titans Return, or TMNT's resurgence of the mini-turtles toyline, you can see the old play value seep back in and make people want to pay attention and have some dang FUN.
If I had to toss a guess on the table as to why I feel like things are picking back up again, I'd say it might have to do with games like Skylanders and Nintendo's Amiibos. While they seem frivolous and throw-away, the figures are still fine little statues and more than capable of being played with outside of the game. I mean, stuff like M.U.S.C.L.E. figures sold well enough, and they still sell stuff like that now, so there's no reason why Skylanders couldn't be appreciated even without articulation! I feel like Skylanders - making toys AND video games exist together again - has allowed that idea to seep back into kid's heads. It's pretty cool, even if you see countless Skylanders in the resale bin at Gamestop and Toys R Us. It's really no different than the walls and walls of resold toys in your local comic shop.
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| I realize now that I never took any photos of my Skylanders, so here's the Mega Bloks Skylanders. Toys of toys! |
What was your favorite toy store to go to when you were little?
Usually Toys R Us (which my brain remembers being WAY bigger than it actually is) and a place called Children's Palace, which I think closed up shop somewhere in the 90's. I was also always happy to hit KB Toys when I could, but there was only one in the mall, and we didn't end up going there very often. Plus, since we were usually going to walk around the mall afterward, I tended to not be able to wait to get back to the car to open a toy, which resulted in lost accessories, like the 90's yellow and black Alley Viper shield. I begged for that guy JUST because of that shield, then I lose it somewhere in that mall. The life of a child! At least I have that shield in spades, nowadays, even though that Alley Viper has seen better days.
Did you have a indie toy store around where you lived?
Not when I was young, no. At least, not when I was very young. There were a couple options later, in early high school, which...well, now I guess I consider high school to be young. I'm only in my 30's, but high school feels ages away! Anyway, there was a shop called The Game Station, and they sold games, skater stuff, Japanese import toys, and indie things like blind-boxed KidRobot figures. At that time I was in the market for toys of video game characters, so I used that shop mainly to buy Mega Man X model figures, as well as start my Gundam addiction (I didn't even know what a "gun-damn" was back then, and I bought one of Bandai's "Mobile Suit in Action" figures just because it was a robot and it had a lot of accessories). I also bought a few other Japanese toys here and there, like some Microman figures, possibly "Microforce", I think? It's a Japanese line where the Microman figures had magnets in their arms and feet. I got a whole lot of new and interesting things there, which expanded my interests considerably.
Toys seemed to be in the weirdest places in the 80's can you tell me where your favorite place other than big retail to find some great toy gems?
Not in the 80's, sadly! I was much too young for that. I was born in '83, so that put me in an awkward spot, toy wise. By the time I was able to look at and understand some of the old mini comics or little booklets that showed what other toys you could get - they were all off the shelves! So I could only get good stuff if I begged just the right way, either to go to a toy store, or to get something from the grocery store or elsewhere (like how I got a Grune, from Thundercats, at a Service Merchandise). The only story I have there is sort of turned around, given the question: I found old 80's stuff in the weirdest place, but in the mid-90's!
My grandma lived up north a ways from me, so when we went up there, we would stay for the weekend, or I would stay up there for a few weeks in the summer. The town she lived in was small, so we had to go out of our way to hit a real department store or anything like that, so sometimes we would just hit this tiny mom-and-pop shop for a few things. That place was a GOLDMINE, because the little town didn't have a whole lot of children, and the people that ran the shop didn't really update the toys often - or at all. There were a bunch of dusty 80's G.I. Joe items on the shelves. Let that sink in, and take your mind back to being a little kid. BRAND. NEW. OLD. TOYS. Ones that I knew weren't on the shelves currently at Toys R Us! If I had been older, I would have bought it all, but instead I had to do the old try-to-get-at-least-one-thing-
To my memory, I think that might be the only crazy, magical find I ever experienced.
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| An old picture of my HISS II heading a battalion of regular HISS tanks. |
Can you recall the first toy that broke your brain with how awesome it was? Did you still own it?
Hmmm....that's tough. I mean, "awesome" is in the eye of the beholder, and I knew I thought Skeletor was awesome when I was VERY young. He's the earliest thing I can remember holding in my hand constantly (I took him everywhere with me, even to bed, and I woke up one morning having apparently chewed his head off in my sleep. This is, of course, a story I had to have told to me, because I had to have been very young. Still, I can vaguely recall visiting Toys R Us to get a new Skeletor - Dragon Blaster Skeletor - to stop my constant crying).
That's not really "brake my brain" awesome, though. Just first-toy memories. I guess I can just go with the first thought in my head: The Toybiz "multi-jointed action poses" Spider-Man. Before him, all my superheroes were simple. I didn't have many G.I. Joes, either, at the time. Figures with a lot of articulation weren't common. My only Spider-Man was a Toybiz figure that had suction cups on his hands, which limited him considerably. How you gona punch someone with those hands? You gona slap 'em? So the super articulated Spider-Man was BIG on my list. I was able to point to him from the backs of the packages I would keep (because of COURSE I kept those), so my mom knew just the one. I don't remember which birthday it was, but she had a special web cake made, and Spider-Man was placed on top, in the middle of the web.
OH MAN, never before had there been a more articulated figure! Spider-Man could do everything! Granted, there were still no fists to punch with, but my imagination could at least wrap around open-hands better than suction-cup-hands. Plus, he had a "thwip" hand, which was super important. That figure was THE ONE. He went with me everywhere, he was by the bed on the nightstand, he was in every story, and was just all around awesome. Oh and yes, I DO still have him! I can even point out all his flaws as if he were a map, like the spot on his eye from a drop on the stairs, to the melted butt cheek because I used a hot lamp bulb as a seat for him (I was an interesting kid). Awesome figure. Still is fairly impressive, even by today's standards.
Can you tell me what was your favorite era of toys?
I'd like to say 90's, but that's probably just the nostalgia talking. There was a lot of love, back then, but they keep improving through the years, and I almost feel like each new era is the best. On top of that, as a collector, my interests keep changing with time, so what I liked about let's say...the mid 2000's, might not be what I like now.
You know what? Let's keep it simple! Nostalgia it is! The 90's had a lot of great stuff, and nostalgia has brought a lot of it back, save for some things. One thing I loved (and totally understand, if most people didn't) was random hero variants. Like Spider-Man-but-with-an-Iron-
Now, granted, there's always a way to make TOO many - like in the 2002 He-Man series. That line was so full of He-Man and Skeletor variants, that finding anything but those two was a like working as a needle checker in a needle-in-a-haystack factory. Every store was a new haystack. There were some really cool variants, but, WAY too many. In fact, looking for the 2002 He-Man line was what single-handedly ended my old toy hunting runs. Used to be an every-thursday kind of thing, and then I just stopped and decided to find what I find, whenever I find it (or don't).
So, while there are drawbacks to senseless variants, I also have a fondness for them, because of the 90's.
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| Clear Venom with crazy monster hands for no reason? Sign me up! |
Favorite year for G.I. Joes? Why?
You could say it was '89, but only because it was coveted. Those were the figures (and some from years before it) that were on that little pamphlet that came with my H.I.S.S. II. I barely got any of those, but they were so awesome as little holy grails that I never obtained.
Ah, but that doesn't really count! My real year for Joes were the years where I was actually able to get the figures: the 91-94 area. As for favorite...probably between 91 and 92. There was the orange and black B.A.T., Overkill, ninjas, zombies, and that awesome blue and black Snake Eyes with the orange goggles - the first time he had any splash of color. That era was heavily G.I. Joe - I was getting some, and a good friend was getting a TON. We played Joes nearly every day we were together, and I got to be Cobra every time (they had all the best stuff, and most of their figures were masked, which is what I liked).
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| The best the 90's had to offer, and it was good |
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| 90's Snake Eyes along side a remake from the last Joe toyline |
Favorite year for MOTU? Why?
Woo boy, that's a hard one! Do I choose the original stuff because they were my first toys, or the later stuff, because they're so awesome? Each era brought new and interesting things. The vintage ones were there for my childhood before I can even remember. I was so young, that many of my vintage MotU figures (that I still have) are chewed to heck - especially the hands. I couldn't be blamed, really, since I was probably too young to have those toys, at the time. Still, having them around created some of my interests that are still going today, like fantasy, or the ancient-technological-
However, later on, in 1990, He-Man came back with "The New Adventures of He-Man", though I was barely able to catch the cartoon. The toys are what did it for me. I was already a fan of He-Man, but by the time I was able to ask for them, the vintage stuff was no longer in the stores. In came the 90's He-Man to save the day, and BOY did it feel like they were made for me! He-Man was slimmer (I was always a skinny blonde kid, so I felt like he worked better as a figure I could use as "me", sort of) and Skeletor was AWESOME. I was already a fan, but then, the the minicomic that came with him showed how he was nearly killed, and he fixed himself up by doing cybernetic surgery ON HIMSELF. So, it goes without saying that badass cyborg Skeletor was certainly a favorite, and led to my greater MotU stories from then on (even though I could barely use my old, chewed vintage toys to play out the story before it).
How can I ignore the 2002 series, though? That came with tremendous hype, from an article in Toyfare magazine, to the cartoon, to finding my first figure (He-Man himself) at a comic shop for way more than he was worth - I bought him anyway, I was so excited. It was a hellish line to find and collect, but they are still some of my favorite figures, even if they were around a time when I wasn't playing with toys like I used to.
Masters of the Universe Classics though - MAN what a toyline! Everything I loved about MotU, but remade with new articulation and even details from 2002 and figures from New Adventures of He-Man! Nearly everything I loved was recreated. It's a collection that I highly doubt I'll ever sell, even if I sell nearly everything else.
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| So...I can't choose! I love it all. |
Do you have a favorite guilty pleasure? Like a toy line that gets a lot of bad publicity?
It's funny; there were a lot of toy lines I considered guilty pleasures, until I ended up finding a strong fanbase for it. New Adventures of He-Man, for one. It felt like NOBODY liked that old line, since He-Man and Skeletor were so different. Still, I found a strong fanbase, and even people who didn't like the idea could still show appreciation for the sculpting and design of the figures. Plus: I don't feel guilty about loving that line at ALL.
G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 also got a lot of flack when it was around, but it still gained a fanbase, and they are still utterly fantastic toys that toy collectors should at least try once (seriously, get the first version of Storm Shadow, at least. Amazing toy). Again, though: I don't feel guilty. It's an awesome toyline, and anyone who has an appreciation for toys should be able to see that.
I suppose the only thing I could feel "guilty" about isn't even a toy line - I just have this collection of toy swords and weapons. It's tapered off over the years, but I still love plastic swords. I've got my first one ever (a silver sword with a yellow blade) hanging up on the wall in my toy room. They're silly, I don't really use them, and chances are, my son will end up using and/or breaking a lot of them when he gets older ('cause how can I tell him no when there are so many cool plastic weapons?). I've got a few items I'd like to keep in nice shape, like the New Adventures of He-Man Power Sword and Skeletor's Staff, but otherwise, they really are a bunch of cheap swords, or neat swords I got around Halloween because they looked cool.
Any future toy line that has got you excited?
Articulated Icons: The Feudal Series. It's a series of ninjas, samurai, and fighters done by people from the website "The Fwoosh." I helped kickstart it in 2015, and they've been trucking along, showing updates ever since. The figures are turning out great, and I'm VERY excited to finally get my hands on them. They should be shipping in a few months...or sooner. There have been hiccups along the way, so I've set it in the back of my mind so I'm not overly anticipating them. Thankfully, the creators have been very candid and explained every hiccup along the way, and I agree with every delay. It's awesome that they are so hands-on with the line, because they were able to catch every mistake so that the final product will be the best it can be. They even cared enough to redo the final product so that the swappable arms were easier to swap, since the first batch of finished prototypes were harder to remove than they had wanted. This means that a few select folks got some of those nearly-finished-protos (the only difference being the hard-to-remove-arms) and we've been getting some awesome photos of what we're going to get oh-so soon! I can't wait!
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You can find on Toys and Tomfoolery on the web here:
Instagram @toysandtomfoolery
blogspot at toysandtomfoolery.blogspot.com
