March 2013 Recap



Below is a recap of all the post we've covered in March 2013. If you missed any, or simply want to see them again, click on each "title" to be taken directly to that post. As always, thanks for reading.

Blade
Barnyard Commandos
C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa
Centurions - Power Xtreme
Jurassic Park
Scooby-Doo (The Movie)
Demolition Man
Indiana Jones

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Indiana Jones (Hasbro)



Indiana Jones
Hasbro
2008-2011

Indiana Jones has had long lasting staying power in the here today gone tomorrow world of Hollywood. The character had his forth outing in 2008, prompting this all new line from Hasbro which celebrated each film in the series.

There were a massive amount of figures released between 2008 and 2011, and one could argue this is the definitive collection of Indy based figures produced to date. Sure, other releases have come and gone such as Kenner's vintage line based on Raiders, and the very short lived Temple of Doom ones from LJN. However, if you're looking for a place to get everything under one roof, then Hasbor's line is definitely what you're looking for.

Each figure contained an array of movie accurate accessories as well as a fair amount of articulation. What makes the line all the more intriguing is the fairly descent sculpting and spot on clothing design - Granted sculpted and painted clothing.

 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
BASIC FIGURES
Cairo Swordsman*German Soldier*Indiana Jones (with Golden Relic)*Indiana Jones (Whip Cracking Action)
Marion Ravenwood*Monkey Man*Rene Belloq*Sallah

 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
DELUXE FIGURES
Cairo Thugs*German Soldiers
Marion Ravenwood and Cairo Henchman

 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
DELUXE FIGURES
Indiana Jones with Ark*Indiana Jones with Horse
Indiana Jones Temple Pitfall*Indiana Jones Temple Trap

 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
TARGET EXCLUSIVE BOX SET
Cairo Ambush

 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
VEHICLES
Cairo Truck*Troop Car

 THE TEMPLE OF DOOM
BASIC FIGURES
Chief Temple Guard*Indiana Jones*Mola Ram
Short Round*Temple Guard*Willie Scott

 THE LAST CRUSADE
BASIC FIGURES
Colonel Vogel*Dr. Henry Jones*Elsa Schneider
Grail Knight*Indiana Jones*Young Indy

 THE LAST CRUSADE
DELUXE FIGURES
German Solider with Motorcycle

THE LAST CRUSADE
 TARGET EXCLUISVE BOX SET
Tank Showdown

 KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
BASIC FIGURES
Cemetary Warrior*Colonel Dovchenko*Indiana Jones (with Rocket Launcher)
Indiana Jones (with Whip)*Irina Spalko

 KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
BASIC FIGURES
Mutt Williams (with Python)*Mutt Willaims (with Sword)
Russian Solider*Ugha Warrior

 KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
DELUXE FIGURES
Mutt Williams with Motorcycle

 KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
TARGET EXCLUSIVE BOX SET
Jungle Chase

 KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
COMMEMORATIVE DVD SET
Set 1*Set 2

 KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
MAIL AWAY
Crystal Skelleton with Throne

 KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
VEHICLES
Jungle Cutter

 KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
PLAYSETS
The Lost Temple of Akator Playset

SAN DIEGO COMIC CON LOST WAVE
Classic Indy*Marion (with Snakes and Torch)*Sapito
Toht*German Mechanic*Indiana Jones (in German Disguise)

Unfortunately at the end of the day, the demise of this line was over saturation during its four year run.While there's no denying Harrison Ford has helped to shape Indiana Jones into a pulp culture icon, Hasbro definitely over anticipated the demand for action figures. The line was popular. However there was simply too much product vs. demand (a problem we wish more toy lines would have). The end result was a line which most toy stores simply couldn't sell enough of, and eventually moved to clearance bins to quickly relieve themselves of overstock.

These days you can get mint on card figures for as little as a penny. Ouch.

Join us next time when we take a look at....Welll....Something different!

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Demolition Man (Mattel)



Demolition Man
Mattel
1993

Both Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes were big names in the early 1990's, so it made perfect sense to "team them up" for the film Demolition Man. The premise of the film revolves around Stallone (the cop) chasing down Snipes (the criminal) in the present time. When things go wrong (we'll say that as to not ruin the plot for anyone), both men are convicted and sentenced to a prison of being cryogenically frozen.

Fast forward to the future where Snipes manages to escape, and Stallone is brought out of his status to go after him. Sprinkle in Denis Leary and a fairly unknown Sandra Bullock, a joke about seashells, explosions, violence and bunch of typical action film one liners, and you get the gist of what Demolition Man has to offer.

Mattel produced a line of toys to coincide with the film which found little success in toy isles. The majority of the toys comprised of versions of Phoenix and Spartan, and a couple vehicles. Coupled with the film really not being geared towards children, and the over saturation of the two characters could have been the driving force of toy line suffering as it did. The end result was the majority of items being shifted to clearance bins rather quickly.

 BASIC FIGURES
Battle Baton Spartan*Battle Hook Friendly*Bazooka Attack Spartan*Blast Attack Phoenix
 BASIC FIGURES
Combat Cannon Spartan*Cryo-Claw Tech*Flame Throwing Phoenix*Kick_Fighting Spartan

VEHICLES
Bolajet*Fast Blast 442

Join us next time when we take a look at Indiana Jones!

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Scooby-Doo (The Movie) (Equity Marketing, Inc.)



Scooby-Doo (The Movie)
Equity Marketing, Inc.
2002

Its impressive to say Scooby-Doo has been a mainstay on syndicate television since 1969 when the Mystery Inc. appeared in their first animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Since then, the group has appeared in numerous re-visioned television series, full length animated films, quest appearances (our favorite being in Johnny Bravo), and live action / CGI films.

Though it doesn't technically say it anywhere on the package, these particular figures from Equity Toys are from the live action / CGI film released in 2002 staring Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, and a couple other folks.

The line is fairly compact, and doesn't offer much beyond Shaggy, Scooby and a handful of "villains". Which is a shame considering many fans wanted to complete their collection of the entire "gang". You'll also notice that the two aforementioned characters produced weren't based on the film iterations, but rather the cartoon ones.

 Tiki Tourist Scooby-Doo*Tiki Tourist Shaggy
Jester and the Wall of Meat*Spooky Luna Ghost*Spooky Demon
Mystery Machine with Scooby-Doo and Shaggy

Several Scooby-Doo related toy lines have come and gone over the years since this line was released(as well as a handful of live action / CGI films - one of which was a direct sequel). It's a safe bet to assume even more will come in the near future as there's no doubt Scooby-Doo is a classic icon of pop culture.

Join us next time when we take a look at Demolition Man!

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Jurassic Park (Kenner)



Jurassic Park
Kenner
1993

There's no denying that Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park wasn't big, big, big back in 1993. It pushed the limit of technology, and ushered in a new era of realistic CGI on the big screen. It was the technical advancement ILM and Lucasfilm needed to set in motion George Lucas' Prequel Trilogy, and showed the world animated characters could indeed coexist next to humans without there being any doubt the CGI characters were real.

Kenner capitalized big time on the success of Jurassic Park with their line of figures, vehicles and dinosaurs - So much to the point they created a second series later down the road (not seen in this post). Fans of both the film and dinosaurs in general ate up the series, making it one of the hottest toy lines of the year.

The series featured numerous scales of dinosaurs (no pun intended) from hand size creatures to massive deluxe boxed edition. While at the end of the day they weren't necessarily to scale when compared to the figures, in general they were fairly impressive.

DELUXE DINOS
Young Tyrannosaurus Rex*Stegasaurus
Triceratops
DINO SCREAMERS
Dilophosaurus*Velociraptor
DINO-STRIKE
Coelophysis*Dilophosaurus*Dimetrodon
Pteranodon*Velociraptor
ELECTRONIC
Tyrannosaurus Rex
HATCHLINGS
Raptor Hatchling*Triceratops Hatchling
HUMANS
Alan Grant*Dennis Nedry*Ellie Sattler
Robert Muldoon*Tim Murphy
VEHICLES
Bush Devil Tracker*Capture Copter
Jungle Explorer

PLAYSETS
Commando Compound

Join us next time when we take a look at Scooby Doo (The Movie)!

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Centurions - Power Xtreme (Kenner)



Centurions - Power Xtreme
Kenner
1986

We knew about the Centurions as kids, even watched a couple cartoons here and there. However, we weren't necessarily fans. As such, Centurions is one of the few 80's cartoons that we really can't speak about in detail because what we would say would basically be a regurgitation of what we read online.

What we do know is the basics - The show ran for sixty-five episodes over two seasons, an was produced by Ruby-Spears.

Kenner had wrapped up production of their highly popular Star Wars line in 1985, and was looking for the next big thing. Sadly, while Centurion figures were cool, they weren't the answer.

Each figure stood approximately ten inches high, and featured multiple holes on the front and back to "plug in" the various accessories that came packed in. Best of all, you could mix and match the accessories from other figures to create your own unique character set up.

Jake Rockwell*Ace McCloud
Max Ray
Dr. Terror*Hacker

We won't call the below items vehicles, but rather larger accessories. Mainly because the majority of them were used by attaching them to the figures via the above mentioned holes. Regardless of whether or not you consider them vehicles or accessories, there is one thing for sure - Kenner produced a ton of them.

Detonator*Skybolt
Depth Charger
Swingshot*Hornet
Tidal Blast*Orbital Interceptor
Wild Weasel*Sea Bat
Strafer*Traumatizer

Centurions Power Pack

Join us next time when we take a look at Jurassic Park!

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C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa (Hasbro)



C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa
Hasbro
1991

Take a premise like Barnyard Commandos in 1991, and you find little success both on television and in action figure isles. One year later change the theme from military to cowboys, and suddenly you have a success on your hands. It's really weird how timing is everything.

C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa was featured on ABC's Saturday morning cartoons lineup, and produced a total of 26 episodes over two seasons between 1992 and 1993. Coinciding with the animated show as Hasbro's line of action figures.


 Boot Hill Buzzard*Buffalo Bull
Colonel Cudster*The Cowlorado Kid*The Dakota Dude
Five Card Cud*Geronimoo
Moo Montana*Saddle Sore*Sheriff Terrorbull

While a total of ten action figures came out, sadly only one vehicle was released.
Wild West Iron Horse

Join us next time when we take a look at Centurions - Power Xtreme!

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Barnyard Commandos (Playmates Toys)



Barnyard Commandos
Playmates Toys
1989-1990

Barnyard Commandos was a great cartoon that unfortunately only lasted for 13 episodes back in 1990. Playmates toys hoped to find success with a toy line that sadly was as unpopular as the television show.

Much like the heads of the original TMNT figures, Playmates went with a very soft, very squishy plastic mold. This made the toys resemble more so dog chew toys than action figures. Potentially this this lack of quality only served to further cement the lack of desire for kids to buy them.

SERIES 1

P.O.R.K.S.
Captain Tusker Chitlins*General Hamfat Lardo*Private Side O'Bacon*SergeantShot N' Sweet

R.A.M.S.
Commodore Feece Cardigan*Major Legger Mutton*Pilot Fluff Pendleton*Sergeant Wolly Pullover

Before the line was cancelled, Playmates produced an impressive sixteen figures over two waves. Additionally, they also released two vehicles. That's not bad considering the line was eventually destined for clearance bins.

SERIES 2
P.O.R.K.S.
Commander Missiles Muttonchop*Lieutenant Sureshot Shearling*Master Sergeant Cornelius Cannonfodder*Private Bull Bellwerther
R.A.M.S.
Captain Hogg Wilde*Corporal Hy Ondahog*Major Piggyback Gunner*Staff Sergeant Blaster McBacon

P.O.R.K.S.
Pork-A-Pult
R.A.M.S.
Ram Tank

Join us next time when we take a look at C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa!

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Blade (Toy Biz)



Blade
Toy Biz
1998

The first Blade film was proof positive that when done with care that people would not only see comic book movies, but enjoy them. In a way, the 1998 film was what helped to usher in the likes of X-Men, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, then the Fantastic Four again (because clearly nobody got the memo on the first two stinking), which of course led to the Marvel phases we have with the Avengers universe.

Blade stared Wesley Snipes, and (one of our favorite's) Stephen Dorff. Fans of Gotham will also notice a very young Donal Logue (AKA Harvey Bullock). Adult film fans will also notice Traci Lords in the opening scene at the club.

Toy Biz produced the very small, but very awesome Blade figures seen below to coincide with the film's release. Unfortunately they were not as popular as the company's prior Marvel Universe line, and quickly got shuffled to clearance bins.

Blade*Deacon Frost

Vampire Blade*Whistler

Though they're not too common, when found a complete set mint on the card can usually be obtained for $40.00 to $50.00. That's not too terrible of an asking price if you passed them up back in 98'.

Join us next time when we take a look at Barnyard Commandos!

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