The Toy Box: June 2019

360° Toy Room

When I'm home, this is where I spend the majority of my time. Not a bad place to be, huh?

Why not take a panoramic shot of your toy room and share it on your own site?

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Retro Spins: Prince And The Revolution - Around The World In A Day

Prince and the Revolution
Around the World in A Day
1985

Ask any casual Prince fan if they like the song Raspberry Beret and they would probably say, "Yes." Ask that same casual fan if they like the album, Around the World in A Day, and they would probably ask, "What is that?"

It's amazing for how popular Prince became in 1984 with his (personally speaking) masterpiece album, Purple Rain, that despite this major success not too many casual Prince fans could tell you what the follow up album was to that. Well, obviously I'm talking about 1985's Around the World in A Day.

Admittedly, my opinion of any type of Prince album may be somewhat biased as he is one of the few artists I have actually kept up with and sought out / own all of his (legitimate) studio albums. Is all of his music amazing? No, far from it. However, there are many, many, many songs he has released over the span of his multi decade career which are staples in my iPod / iTunes shuffle list. He's also one of the few artists who's music I will listen to past his 1980's era.

Okay, okay, so I like the artist, but how does Around the World in A Day stand up next to his most notable albums?

Well, I like it, you know, if you didn't see that coming. It starts out with the album's title track which sets a fun tone for the album. It's followed by the track named after his home, Paisley Park and from there slows down for the ballad Condition of the Heart - Not bad, but not one of my favorites. Raspberry Beret comes next and admittedly it feels like you're listening to a whole different album. It's so different, so good and so well know that it almost feels like it was the only song truly completed and polished for release. As if the remainder of the album was built around it just to be able to put out a full record.

Don't get me wrong. I love other tracks on this album, and the following funky, Tamborine (apparently Prince didn't know how to spell tambourine), is one of them. Admittedly this particular track isn't for everyone as I can see it grating on people's nerves if they're not expecting the style of music they're about to get.

America and Pop Life are two stand out tracks which follow Tamborine. Both send a strong messages about the Country as a whole (America) as well as people's desire to have more than they do and be more than they are (Pop Life). At least those are my interpretations of them.

The album rounds out with The Ladder and Temptation. Admittedly, I don't particularly care for these two tracks.

Overall, this is definitely a Prince album worth checking out. While it's not as catchy or even pop oriented as Purple Rain, it shows he was definitely not content as an artist to play it safe and just produce radio friendly songs. Prince had a vision for his albums, and while that vision may not have been what people considered to be the best idea or concept, he stood by his work - When he wasn't just throwing out albums to fulfill his contract with Warner Bros.

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X-Men: The New Mutants (Toy Biz)

Before I jump into today's post, make sure you check out all the updates from this weekend. I posted quite a few Order of Battle posts. Additionally, the side bar at the bottom of my Blog has been updated with a link to all of my Order of Battle posts. This is more so a quick reference for myself, but also a great way for visitors to quickly check out my own personal collection as well.

X-Men: The New Mutants
Toy Biz
1998

Marvel was always on the lookout for how to expand its popular X-Men series, and in 1982, this came in the for of the New Mutants. The group made their debut in Marvel Graphic Novel, a series of trade paperback produced in response to DC's DC Graphic Novel. Issue number four to be exact.

The group's origin followed five young mutants who are just starting to learn about their powers. Each one has their own trouble past, but with the aid of Charles Xavier, are given a path to follow.

With the popularity of the book, Marvel green lit a full volume series for the team, which debuted in March of 1981. The series would run for a well rounded out one hundred issues as well as seven annuals before evolving into Rob Leifield's popular X-Force.

This however wouldn't be the last of the team's comic days under the "Mutants" banner. A second volume was published July of 2003 and June of 2004, lasting for thirteen issues. Then again in July of 2019, a third volume would run for fifty issues through December of 2012.

In between it's comic series, Toy Biz delivered a set of four action figures - Well, three actually, as one was a variant of Magik. Each figure featured the quality one would expect at this point from a Toy Biz Marvel line, and as was the case of the era, was pretty cross compatible with other comic lines from the manufacturer.

Warlock*Wolfsbane

Unfortunately for fans, the series never got rounded out with the remaining team members. It would have been great if Toy Biz would have finished what it started, and delivered Sunspot, Karma, Psyche and Cannonball.

Magik (Red Outfit)*Magik (Yellow Outfit)

Toy Biz's The New Mutants line remains yet another one of the companies numerous "mini" lines which came and went during their desperate attempt to make anything and everything Marvel related. It will be interesting to see if popularity comes back full circle on this one as the New Mutants make more and more of an appearance via television and big screens.

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