Christmas Toy of the Day

[AcidDragon]

Wow. I think I watched something about the pre-order box thing of Toys That Made Us. That's a really dang cool right up!

[packerbacker180]

Ok, I've done a few toys I wanted but never got, how about one I do vividly recall getting?



Weirdly, I was not a big DC comic book reader as a young kid much preferring Marvel. But because of the various versions of the Super Friends cartoon, I was still a huge fan of Kenner's SuperPowers line. And who wouldn't be witn those action features. Squeeze Superman's legs and he'll punch Powersuit Luthor into oblivion. Squeeze the Flash's arms and he would run fast. Squeeze Orion's something and he'd...<check notes> look angry? Yeah, Orion-E-Faces was a weird toy. How could a New God be in traction? Kenner must've been like, we can't make his Astro-Harness a separate part so let's just put it on his head? I dunno. How else can you explain this figure?



Though the line had many vehicles, the creme de la creme had to be 1984's Hall of Justice. I remember just being mesmerized by the box art. Look at that beauty!





The Hall was one of the coolest playsets. I had Castle Greyskull and Snake Mountain, Dagobah and the Ewok Village, and this bad boy rated right up there with them. Except, it was yellow. I was only 6 back then, and I remember just wanting so badly to color in that superhero mural on the back of the playset. And I remember trying to do so with waxy crayons and it not going so well, lol. Nowadays I'd just hand paint that thing. Heck, I'd probably paint the whole outside white. Sadly, this was the best image I could find of the back but if you zoom in you can make out the characters.



I couldn't find the original retail price for this. One site had it listed as $9.99 but that doesn't seem right. But then again the Ewok Village is listed as having originally been $19.99. so maybe. That would roughly translate to about $30 today. And what a bargain that was when you got all of this...



I liked the Secret Wars line as well, but the Hall of Justice put Captain America's Freedom Fighter playset to shame. I mean, when did Cap ever fly around in a helicopter? To this day I still dream of walking into a thrift store and seeing that bright yellow building on a shelf no matter how unlikely that is. I'd even settle for coming across just the shell. Yeah, I can probably get one online, but that's not fun. When DCUC was strong I often considered buying one to paint white but never did. Maybe someday. As ToyGuru would say, no plans right now, but you never know!

[BrandonDaCollector]

I was in a similar boat too PB. I didn't wants comic stuff till Batman 89. Then I was like hooked on DC then Marvel in 90. Oh yes, box art, blister cards and the like can be so neat looking. You now I know love visuals. Toy packaging has always been a major part for Me especially if it has bios of the characters, I always wanted the info. This entry of your's is really good. The Hall of Justice is one of the most prestige of all action figure sets. Sadly, I really wasn't in time for them...here's My quote of My one & only DCSP Superman. I'm probably one of the only people that you'll talk to that still has this piece of 80s gold Now here's some quotes from Me

DC Super Powers Superman by Kenner Yes, the original Superman action figure! Often I think about the DC Superpowers line. I remember way back in the 80s at a local store called Ben Franklin's (one of My favorites to go to, they were a great one as they had tons of great toys...went out of business years and years ago unfortunately) and I saw the DC SuperPowers in their special section like The Joker and Batman and I WASN'T wanting them! I only wanted Superman for whatever reason. I know I loved seeing the vintage cartoon and the George Reeves show so maybe that was it...I don't know. I was a young and a foolish kid let Me tell ya I kinda made up for it however when I got some of the ToyBiz "bootleg" DC/Batman 89 cross-over figure series (got them at the out of business K-Mart). I loved the Kenner Batman 89 &amp; Batman Returns series as well (got them at the out of business Venture) so look for them in a very special update in the future! Unfortunately I do not have his blister card but I think the DC Superpowers artwork was and still is the best of all ever seen even to now IMO and of course they are My faves to this day!

So the figure is from 1984, he stands about in the 4" scale range. He is articulated at the head, shoulders, hips and knees. Supes has an action feature, you squeeze his legs together and his arms move up & down mimicking punches. The sculpting is really good and he has a nice cloth cape (thank goodness I kept him all intact).  





Copyright!

Now, as I said before, I wasn't interested in comic stuff until Batman 89 however, I had like a second chance at it. I got most of the DC ToyBiz figures in 89-90

Here is Batman 89 (v1), the Joker and Bob the Goon

Here is Batman 89 v2, Superman and Wonder Woman: They are My first & original JLA in figure form and otherwise Later in a future update of the topic you will see a special comparison of Kenner's DCSP & ToyBiz' DCSH via Superman from BOTH lines This Wonder Woman is quite nice. She's the only female figures of the whole series and you can tell that she is a female. I have unfortunately misplaced her Lasso of Truth but overall she is quite nice and she was one of first if not My first superhero female figures



OK, now here we go with the villains, here is The Joker along with The Riddler, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, and Lex Luthor aka the DC Super Villains!. All of these guys are superb looking. The Riddler really has been a fave figure of mine within this series however Mr. Freeze was always the one that looked the coolest with no pun intended there and yes his helmet is removable. Note that The Penguin is a big time inspiration of Kenner's DCSP version and in fact Kenner would keep this mold & sculpt for their Batman Returns series in 1992 which is quite something else when you think about it Thank goodness I kept Luthor's briefcase & Kryptonite Ring with him. I've always loved the look at the Geen Ring Just look at the classic Vintage DCSH Viallin display, oh i looks so darn good

Batman 89 & DC Super Heroes group shot: Wow, take a gander at that super classic vintage ToyBiz display

Now, with all of that being known, DCSP would be an excellent Vintage Christmas gift, it's one of the best. However, the ToyBiz versions would also be too. Both are quite historical compared to future lines and I would say whomever you can get to your liking, I would do it

[OneNineSix]

Were any of these recycled into the Toybiz line or was that something totally different?

[packerbacker180]

Alright, I may've bit off more than I could or want to chew with this new thread, but like all good video games I got a cheat code. You see, I wanted to look up what the best selling Christmas by year was and wouldn't you know it, 1980 was a good year. At the dawn of the decade that would see video game graphics advance by leaps and bounds from the Atari 2600 to the Nintendo to the SEGA Genesis the number one selling toy of 1980 was a #1.99 plastic square, or more precise, a cube, and I just so happened to already do a write-up on it a few years ago when talking about the atrocity of a cartoon this little hexahedron hellion would bring forth. So here it is...

I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath checking hourly to see, did he post cartoon #36 yet? Did he? Well, fear not faithful readers because away...we...go...

As a kid, I hated the Rubik's Cube. As an adult, I still do. Stupid little puzzle. Rubik's Cube was created by Ernő Rubik who worked at the Department of Interior Design at the Academy of Applied Arts and Crafts in Budapest. Rumored to have been created as a teaching tool, his actual purpose was solving the structural problems of moving parts independently without the entire mechanism falling apart. But after he scrambled the cube he realized he had created a puzzle and applied for a patent for the design of his "Magic Cube" in 1975 but the cube wouldn't appear in the west until 1980



By 1981 the puzzle became so popular that it's estimated 200 million were sold worldwide from 1981-1983. If you're like me, dumb, you could probably only get one or two sides to line up properly and got bored with the damn thing and started peeling the stickers off and putting them back so each side had one color and when you realized that was dumb and you weren't fooling anyone because the stickers got more dog-eared than a Playboy Magazine in a treehouse clubhouse so you threw the abominable magic cube at your little brother--before appearing in stores, a lighter version of The Rubik's Cube was created, thus making it less of an ideal projectile, but still decent if you landed a corner.

Hulk smash stupid puny cube.



"They'll make a cartoon of just about anything!"--some parent, September 17th, 1983.



Rubik's, the Amazing Cube is what happens when cartoons about popular toys is stretched to it's inevitable limit. You see, Rubik is a magical creature, that when put into his solved form grows a head and appendages. Not much is ever explained beyond that because this show was destined to last only one season of 13 episodes, but we know Rubik fell off the stagecoach of an evil magician who apparently still rides around on a horse drawn stagecoach in 1983. Really? Does he roam the countryside actually sawing people in half and making little brothers disappear? Did George Hodel do magic? He's clearly evil, you see, because he has a beard with no mustache. Never trust a guy with a fuzzy chinstrap. I don't know, maybe he's an evil Amish magician?



For the record, I don't even have a little brother so not sure why I'm so fixated on inflicting punishment upon him.



So ol' Rubik literally just fell off the wagon (glug! glug!) into the awaiting arms of the Rodriquez kids, whom he would aid in solving everyday problems like bullying and saving the homes of orphans from greedy capitalists who want to build a mall or parking lot or something. That must've been a pretty popular 80's story because I remember an episode of Alvin and The Chipmunks, The A-Team, and Quantum Leap having similar plots, I guess ol' Joe McCarthy didn't weed out all Hollywood commies.



The theme song was done by Puerto Rican boy band, Menudo, but it's pre-Ricky Martin version so nobody really cares or remembers them.



And, you wouldn't know it because his voice is sped up to add a level of cuteness to it, but can you tell who does the voice of Rubik?



Rubok is just a smashup of popular characters of the day anyway, so why not take Horshack, toss in some Yoda and the Smurfs, mix in a little ET, shake and pour out a steaming pile of two-legged animated crap. I get it, you want to sell toys you make commercials and cartoons. As we discussed before, Ronald Reagan and the FCC deregulated advertising to children so the floodgates of toy producers getting commercials and cartoons in front of children exploded. This of course was all fought against by ACT (Action For Children’s Television) a grassroots group that sought to improve educational programming for children in the 70's. They even paid for studies on psychology of advertising to children. And you know what they discovered?



Their findings? Children, especially younger ones, cannot differentiate between a cartoon and a commercial. Advertisers, including toy and junk food manufacturers, knew this. No kidding. They had to pay for studies on this? Newsflash: kids like crap. If you flash it in their face, they'll want it. Kids are the ultimate impulse buyer. Duh. But c'mon, give kids more credit then that, "they can't differentiate between commercials and a cartoon"? I refuse to believe even kids in the 70's were that stupid but then I stop and think about the age of people currently running the country and maybe they aren't far off. So what's it all about?



Reagan's philosophy stated that the market should dictate what's successful. If kids want it, give it to them. And boy did they ever in the 80s. But is there a limit? I get it, GI Joe? Yeah, we can make a cartoon out of that. Transforming robots? Let's start drawing! But who thought a cartoon about a puzzle block would be a good idea?



Was Rubik the worst cartoon of the 1980s? Probably not. Sadly, the 90s updated reboot using a more modern toy only lasted one episode.



To the best of my miniscule research, there isn't a DVD collection of the show, but you know what does exist? My son bought a Rubik's from a Walgreens when we were on vacation in August, and to our surprise he was quite adept at solving. Only he really wasn't.



That's right, there is an app for that. You just take a picture of each of the six sides and the app will tell you step by step how to solve the puzzle, Vanna.



See, that's how it starts. First your phone can solve a Rubik's Cube and next thing you know it's taking over the satellites and sending robot Conan back in time to kill Linda Hamilton. Well, if it isn't too much to ask while he's back there do you suppose he could take out the creators of this show before it debuted?



What the hell is even going on there?



Indeed, fake Johnny, indeed. Finally, a Rubik's Cube I can handle.

Maybe, Will, but I just did a whole post in a few minutes.

[BrandonDaCollector]

ONS - First off, keep up with us, we've posted a lot of good stuff thus far that you may have missed Some think that their bootlegs but I so beg the differ. ToyBiz landed the rights to DC despite they were a Marvel Company. They got the molds from Kenner but put their own features to them. This was one of the very few times kids & collectors alike could cross over the two major comic properties in action figure form. Like I was saying to Packer when he posted about MEGO a while a back. Even though that was before My time, I later knew the history and it was the first time ever that kids of the 70s & 80s could have them together. ToyBiz made it possible once again in 1989 and thank goodness I was able to be part the action. It was the last time that I know of that an event like this took place. Kids & people of the generation today have no idea how fun it was back then and many adults today don't realize how good we had it then and I'm just not talking about action figures. Now ToyBiz didn't keep the rights long. By time Kenner was making the Batman Returns figures in 1992, they already got the rights back plus reused their Penguin mold once more. Those quotes where actually from My Marvel collection Topic. There's a ton of great stuff that your probably never seen. I'm one of the very few of the last plebeians on the entire web that does what I do which is really a shame how things have become I even made a special Kenner DCSP vs. ToyBiz DCSH Comparison not to mention showed the crossover between ToyBiz' DC & Marvel figures. you can see that and a whole lot more right here ---> http://www.dctoyrevolution.org/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=1294

Cool that you quoted yourself PB. Yes, so much of everything is a cube, Hellraiser is a huge one for the and the Borg in ST:TNG is as well. Heck, the people over in the Middle East worship a huge, 50 foot+ cube day in, day out I know a lot about cubes. I know I have a Rubik's Cube somewhere but not sure where. If I ever come across i may showcase it. This was a great one and yes, that's amazing that is was #1 PB

I meant to post this on Cyber Monday but I didn't but I am now. It's the 10th anniversary of one of the biggest pieces of Mattel's DC Classics and one of My most prized possessions from MattyCollector...it's version two of Doomsday

DOOMSDAY - V3: YES, they actually gave into us believe it or not after tons of backlash and released the "battle damaged" version under the DC Signature Series His sculpting is just extraordinary. He shares the same buck as his previous figure from months prior but has a ton of new material. Like his other self, he matches the the first great comic book appearance nearly identically! I was able to get in in November on Cyber Monday in 2014 and he is just a great figure and one of My fave of all in any collection

Now if there's any big DC collector looking for a great figure gift of years past, that version of Doomsday IMO is a great choice and would truly make their day. You can see the other version and My collection here ---> http://www.dctoyrevolution.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1102

[packerbacker180]

Yeah, Doomsday was one of the last great DCUC figures. I was not as much a fan of the DC Multiverse line Mattel put out after that. It was ok, but not the same.


In 1997 the hot toy was a Tamagotchi. They were the annoying little handheld predecessor to the Furby.



I was 19 when these were a thing, but my little cousin was about 7 or so and I remember being asked to check the mall regularly to see if I could come across for her. I never really did, come across one or really look. After 8 hours of retail hell the last thing I wanted to do at 19 was go to another store and shop. No, sir.



The name Tamagotchi roughly translates to "stupid little thing", kidding, it's a combination of tamago (egg) and uotchi (watch) so it's an egg watch. You basically had the graphics of 1980 Nintendo Game & Watch. On screen was a little creature you had to take care of, feed, discipline, etc. The thing even pooped on screen, what kid wouldn't enjoy 2-bit fisces?





I never really understood them draw, but Bandai sold 400,000 units in 1996, increasing to 10 million by July 1997 and 13 million by October 1997. By Spring 1998, nearly 40 million units were sold worldwide, including 20 million in Japan and nearly 20 million overseas. In the first two years following Tamagotchi's release, Bandai had sold 40 million units. When you realize these retailed for about $18 back then there were surely a bunch of Japanese business men rolling around in Yen.



And that would buy a lot of Happy Endings.



And that's something a Tamagotchi didn't always get if you didn't properly care for it.



See, Jimmy, you killed your Tamagotchi. Clearly you're not ready for a dog.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Oh yeah, he's one great figure, still one of the best that ever made. I didn't collect that series as I stopped collecting the line soon after I got Doomsday.

Oh boy, the Tamagotchi craze. I know that one a bit. That's one Japanese thing I never wanted to get into and I'm glad I never did. Great entry Packer

Okay, do you recall the Ty Beanie Babies craze



People were clamoring for these left right in the late 90s & 2000s, even at McDonald's



This is from 1997.



Here's this from 1999, 25 years ago this year






Here's this history






I got a few Beanie Babies and I still have'em but I was never was part of the craze. I think that they would make good Christmas Gifts however

[packerbacker180]

Ah, Beanie Babies. I had a couple sports ones but never really paid them much attention. My aunt did. She was one of those people who bought them and the little cases to keep them mint. A couple years ago she started selling them on eBay to clear space. Needless to say, she isn't getting rich, lol.

Here's another Christmas Toy I recall getting one year.



I probably got Castle Greyskull for Christmas a year or two earlier. I had it. I just don't recall getting it. Snake Mountain I do recall. Who wouldn't? I remember loving that face because it looked like an evil Muppet. Look how damn awesome that box is!



In September of 1983, when the He-Man cartoon debuted, kids were introduced to Snake Mountain for the first time. It was an imposing structure – a large pointed peak punctuated with jagged “teeth” and a giant snake carving wrapped around it. Nearby was another, smaller peak, and Blood Falls flowed in between them: It had bridges, and traps, and handcuffs, and a microphone so you could say all sorts of nasty things about your smelly older sister, and all of that for the low, low price of $39.99, roughly $116 today! That's practically stealing it!





I got a lot of Christmas presents every year. I couldn't tell you everything, but you always remember the big gifts, and this thing was a big box item for Skeletor to call home.



And if there's one thing Skeletor loves, it's Christmas!

[BrandonDaCollector]

That's good that your Aunt does Packer That was one heck of a post there about MOTU's Snake Mountain I'm impressed so congrats on this PB I still have the set but I didn't take care of it, same thing with Castle Greyskull In the days of Matty Collector, there was big demand for Snake Mountain Man but Mattel never made him



I'll follow this up with an entry I thought of doing when the Topic began. Here's Mattel's Eternia Playset, one of the biggest and rarest playsets ever




Here's this video that has the commercial plus the info



Here's this guy, he was able to buy one recently and he put's it all together...watch



Now, I never seen the Eternia Playset in person. I actually didn't know it even existed till later. Even if I could have gotten it, I wouldn't have the room for it. I have always thought that it was so awesome looking especially since it has the three towers. Now, if your like Scuba Pete and is able to land it and actually has the room for it and of course is a huge MOTU fan....then absolutely no doubt this would truly be arguably the "ultimate" Christmas present you'll ever get