June 2014 Recap

Below is a recap of all the post we've covered in June 2014. 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.

Sega Genesis
Sega CD
Sega 32X
Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Series 8 and LARP Turtles
TurboGrafx 16
Nintendo 64
G.I. Joe: The Real American Hero
Nightmare Warriors
Activision Presents (Dan Polydoris)
Lassie (AKA My Lassie)

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Lassie (AKA My Lassie) (Gabriel Toys)

Lassie (AKA My Lassie)
Gabriel Toys
1976

The female collie dog character of Lassie has been around since the 1940's when she started in short story format by creator Eric Knight.  From their the character soared into the movies, radio, and eventually it's most popular iteration, television.

What's interesting to note about Gabriel Toys Lassie toys is that when they were produced no version of Lassie was actually being produced in either television, movie or radio.  The original television series ended in 1973.  The radio series hadn't been heard since 1950, and the last movie released with the word "Lassie in the title was in 1963.  However, with that said, the 1971 movie Big Jake is often considered a part of the Lassie cannon even the the animal featured in that film was simply referred to as "Dog."

Back on point, it's interesting that in 1976, when there appeared to be a dry spell for the character that Gabriel Toys would come forth with the toys you see below.  Granted, there weren't many.

The first piece, Lassie and Her Friends included the dog, and a small boy.  Though the boy isn't named on the package, it's assumed by many that this is a depiction of the character Timmy from the original television series.

Lassie and Her Friends

The second piece was entitled My Lassie, and featured the dog, a cart, and a smaller dog in a basket which a handle that fit into Lassie's mouth.

My Lassie

The last piece, and largest was Lassie's Farm.  Yes folks, Lassie was so rich that she owned her own farm which included a horse to lug that cumbersome cart she has above.  That's called outsourcing.

Lassie's Farm

Though it's rather common to find the single dog on secondary markets, not many people appear to be selling the actual sets, let alone complete in the box.  While you would think that this would make them fairly valuable if found in the box, sadly this isn't the case.  We've seen the entire playset sell for as little as $32.00.

Join us next time when we take a look at Bugs Bunny Playhouse!

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Activision Presents (Dan Polydoris)

Activision Presents
Dan Polydoris
2013

Some of the best figures are the ones you can't buy in stores, and these unique figures from Dan Polydoris based on a handful of Activision's classic Atari games are no exception.  Dan created these figures using mostly parts from vintage G.I. Joe figures and then hand painted each one to match the character as seen in the actual game.  Dan explains it best himself at his site, Chicago Toy Collector, and since we don't like to just cut and paste from other sites, we highly recommend you head their for the full details on how these amazing figures came to be.

Not only do the figures look amazing, but the packaging is so iconic in terms of "old skool" gaming.  Dan definitely captures the nostalgic feel of the original cartridges/game boxes in a way that really makes us wish that these figures did actually exist in the form of mass market releases by Hasbro.  In fact, with how successful Atari games were, it's kind of surprising that they didn't.

We've taken the artistic liberty of cleaning up the original photos from his site, and added our own layout/design to the mix.  However, the actual photograph of the figures/packaging is the property of Mr. Polydoris.  Used with permission.

Frostbite Bailey from the game Frostbite

Roderick Hero from the game H.E.R.O.

Officer Kelly from the game Keystone Kapers

Pitfall Harry from the game Pitfall

Short-Order Sam from the game Pressure Cooker

Sadly, at this time the figures are a one of a kind creation, and unless you can convince Mr. Polydoris to sell his only existing pieces, you won't be getting your hands on these.  Still, they're rather unique, and fun to look at.

Join us next time when we take a look at Lassie!

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Nightmare Warriors (MTC - Multi-Toys Corporation)

Nightmare Warriors
MTC (Multi-Toys Corporation)
1983

Nightmare Warriors are a fairly unknown toy line from MTC - Multi-Toy Corporation.  These five and a half inch figures were built with parts fairly close in build to those of the highly popular He-Man, or Masters of the Universe line of the 80's.

Some of the figures were either designed to be the skeletal remains of (or by coincidence were named after) a classic historical figure, and included names such as Geronimo, Spartacus and more.  Each figure featured a glow in the dark feature, and came with numerous weapons and accessories.

Captain Kidd*Geronimo

Major Bones*Pancho Villa

Sir Lancelot*Spartacus

These days, Nightmare Warriors are very difficult figures to track down both carded and/or loose with all their accessories.  At the time of its release the line simply was not popular, and as a result didn't sell well.  These days, many fans of the vintage Masters of the Universe figures enjoy incorporating them into their collections.

Join us next time when we take a look at Activision Presents!

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G.I. Joe: The Real American Hero (Hasbro)

G.I. Joe: The Real American Hero
Hasbro
1997

In celebration of the 15th Anniversary of the 3 3/4 inch line of G.I. Joe, Hasbro produced a set of figures under the banner of G.I. Joe: The Real American Hero, not to be confused with the original line known as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.  These all new sets of figures and vehicles found minor success with fans of the original series who hadn't yet necessarily moved on from their Joes from the 80's and 90's, but didn't quite catch on as much as Hasbro had hoped.

There were no individually carded figures, only sets.  This in turn yielded high prices at retail which caused many who were mildly interested in the figures to pass on them.  This resulted in very poor sales of the figures which were promptly moved to clearance isles, and as a result the 15th Anniversary celebration was short lived for Hasbro and fans.

FIGURES

Navy Assault Unit with Torpedo, Shipwreck and Wet-suit

Oktober Guard with Col. Berkhov, Lt. Gorky and Volga

 

FIGURES

Cobra Infantry Team with Cobra Trooper, Cobra Officer and (another) Cobra Trooper

Cobra Polar Force with Snow Serpent, Night Creeper and Firefly

 

BOXED SET

Stars and Stripes Forever with Breaker, Flash, Grunt, Rock N' Roll, Scarlet, Short-Fuze, Snake-Eyes, Stalker and Zap

 

MISSION PACKS

Army Recon Mission with Duke and Silver Mirage Motorcycle

Navy S.E.A.L. Mission with Torpedo and Night Landing S.E.A.L. Raft

 

TEAM PACKS

Arctic Mission Team with Iceberg, Snow Job and Blizzard

Cobra Command Team with Cobra Commander, Baroness and Destro

 

TEAM PACKS

Cobra Viper Team with Viper and Flight Pod

Commando Team with Snake-Eyes, Lady Jaye and Storm Shadow

 

VEHICLES

Mobile Artillery Cannon (Slugger) with Gung-Ho

A-10 Thunderbolt with General Hawk and Ace

Cobra Rage with Alley Viper

Join us next time when we take a look at Nightmare Warriors!

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Nintendo 64 (Nintendo)

Nintendo 64
Nintendo
1996 - 2003

Often referred to as the N64, the Nintendo 64 launched in September of 1996 in the US with just two launch games - Pilotwings 64 and Super Mario Bros. 64.  To date, it has been Nintendo's last ROM cartridge based system.

Much like every other Nintendo console, there were various releases of the system itself which featured various packed in games/themes, such as Donkey Kong, Goldeneye, etc, and as a result, varying colors to the system.  The standard console was dark gray, almost black in color, while other releases featured colors such as fire orange, jungle green and more.

Multiplayer functionality was definitely a big part of the N64, as realized by the four controller ports built into the front of the console.  As a result, this gave Nintendo an opportunity to exploit (for lack of a better word) consumers with as wide a variety of colored controllers as there were consoles.

The standard controller was a light gray color, which was soon followed by a yellow, red, blue, green and black.  However, Nintendo didn't stop there.  Throughout the life of the console even more colors were produced and released such as, but not limited to, Ice Blue, Atomic Purple, Grape Purple, Clear, Gold, Extreme Green, Fire Orange, Jungle Green, and even a newly designed controller, the Shark Pad - Which was also available in numerous colors.

Accessories were also a large part of the console, and Nintendo made sure to offer some very unique ones that were invaluable to the players experience.  Three worth noting are the Expansion Pak, Controller Pak and Rumble Pak.

The Expansion Pak increased the 4 MB RAM to 8 MB which allowed developers to produce larger, but more importantly, visually appealing games.  As a result, some games in the 64's library require you to have the Pak installed in order to play them.

The Controller Pak gave gamers the much needed, much appreciated ability to save their games - Though only some games allowed for this option.  Though the Nintendo brand Pak was limited to only 32 KB, and up to sixteen game files, many third party released Paks included much more space, and as a result were much more desirable to gamers.

Finally, the Rumble Pak was a feature that offered players the ability to have their controller's rumble during certain parts of games.  This feature is fairly standard these days, and as a result built in to most controllers, but back in the day it was that all new gimmick that was supposed to help submerge gamers into the game even more.

Nintendo also produced a handful of storage cases that were designed for the exact purpose one would think - Store games, and in the larger containers instance - The console too.

Though popular at first, the price of the containers themselves really didn't help sales out in the long run.  Many gamers had already amassed such large collections of games that the limited storage space didn't justify the price.

Of course none of the above really means anything if you don't have the games themselves, so without further delay, we present to you ever US released game for the Nintendo 64!

We hope you've enjoyed our look at the Nintendo 64.  No, we didn't miss the games starting with U's or Z's.  Sadly there were no games released in the US that started with those letters.

Join us next time when we take a look at G.I. Joe: The Real American Hero - Not to be mistaken with G.I. Joe: "A" Real American Hero!

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