Toys We Never Got: MASK, Mighty Max, and Childhood Denials

Hi, this is Dan Gilbazan, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Jazz here, and

I am so diggin' the Geekcast Radio Network. Cliffjumper,

commence countdown. Five, four, three... Toycast.

Oh, yes. Listen in to the only toy podcast you

will ever need. Hello and welcome to an all -new

generation of Toycast. This is episode 157 and

this is a Toy Talk episode. We're gonna be discussing

some stuff and we're gonna get... There's gonna

be a lot of jadedness around here, folks, because

this episode is no toy for you. I am of course

TF2 or Mike, joining me as always Josh the Floor

Burger. Malagatani. What? That's that's one of

the soups from... Oh, right, right, right. Okay.

Crab bisque. Wild mushroom. Yes, wild mushroom.

One of my favorite episodes, because I love soup.

I love soup of all different kinds. But to see

how the characters on Seinfeld would get denied.

We can argue as, you know, maybe in the 90s,

maybe today, what is kind of the same thing as

a toy for an adult? Not an adult toy. That's

not really what we're getting at. But it is really

good food it you get your dopamine release you

get that feeling of satisfaction especially if

it's like a restaurant that's hard to get into

or it's a Food that's only available a little

bit throughout the year Like that's the same

feeling of I finally got that toy as a kid or

a collector So I think you can tie that into

some of our experiences Yes and also now that

you're saying this my my brain goes to another

topic that i want us to do eventually i don't

know if it's gonna be us us but on the show i've

had this topic since day one since you help me

bring the show back. Exclusivity exclusions is

going to be a different topic but toy the art

and the hate of toy exclusives because. They

just you want to talk about stuff is just unattainable

sometimes those those store target exclusives

Walmart exclude insert exclusive whatever here

to whatever big box stored in Barnes and Noble

and books a million and Why is a bookstore have

toy? Whatever anyway, but yeah, so no toy for

you. This is your show. So what's your what's

your? mask Thunderhawk story Okay, so obviously

as you mentioned I'll be talking about the masks

vendor Hawk so From what I've been able to piece

together as a young lad with masks starting 1985

1985 so I was born in 1984. I don't know how

long those toys were in the stores but Towards

the end of the 80s and early 90s. You'd find

a lot of those toys in liquidator outlet stores

When we talked about this a lot on the show,

Das and I waxed nostalgically about these outlet

stores. You would find that just pulling all

the leftover stock that couldn't be sold and

they sell them at lower prices, bargain prices.

KB is a great example of that. So anyways, when

it comes to Mask, I loved it because... Obviously,

the vehicle was the primary piece. It was the

toy. The figure itself was the accessory for

the vehicle, which is such a cool concept, and

Kenner always has nailed that since Star Wars.

Because Star Wars, as far as I understand, was

meant to be a vehicle line that the figures were

accessories for, but the weird phenomenon with

that is that the figures are now almost the centerpiece,

or they are the centerpiece, and the vehicles

are the luxury item. However, with mask, what

I enjoyed about it was, as a kid, working doors.

I don't know what it is about cars, but working

doors were fascinating to me. A steering wheel

that turned, amazing. Give me all of it. Molded

pedals, coolest thing in the world, right? So

give me a line like mask that gives me a vehicle

that looks like a regular vehicle, functions

as a regular vehicle. Rolls around there's all

the things as a regular vehicle, and then you

hit a button and you get Essentially a new vehicle

you can say oh, it's just a transformed version,

but looking at some of the ones on my shelf you

have a a Race car that turns into a jet That's

pretty sweet So I loved mass growing up mask

was one of my favorite lines, but I only had

I think three vehicles from it I had the Gator

I'm trying to think what else was up there. I

had a bunch of the smaller vehicles, but the

one that eluded me was the key, the primary car

from the show, the iconic car, and that was the

Dunderhawk that looked like, I believe, a Camaro.

I think the Camaro is the closest iteration,

the closest vehicle to it. Before you go on with

your story, mask for the action figure for the

toy line. The show only lasted two seasons, and

1985 to 1986, the toy line went from 85 to 88.

Okay. So by 88, 89, that toy line was probably

making its way to the outlet stores, more than

likely. Probably out of stores by 91, 92, right?

Yeah. The cool thing about this Chevrolet Camaro,

the Z28 toy, is that it looks a lot like a car

that I had seen in real life, but also it had

gull wings, which were not typical to the Camaro,

but they flipped up like the DeLorean in Back

to the Future. So what I knew a lot of people

did is that not only did they use it as the mass

vehicle, but they could also... duplicate it

as the DeLorean, which really didn't have a lot

of toys back in the 80s, which was sort of a

weird thing. It seemed like a given that you

should have at least that. So the vehicle is

sweet. It's a red Camaro, has all that stuff.

So anyways, so that came out according to the

Googles. It came out in what year was the release?

1985. 1985 is what I found. So that means that

was probably no longer domestically sold by would

you say 86 87 would that be a strongly? Yeah

So likely so by the time I was actually beyond

running around a diapers So what 25 no, I'm just

kidding 24 years old Yeah, okay So I'm so the

thing is I'm on Wikipedia But I am on the list

of mask toys and characters Wikipedia page and

it actually had a link a clickable link to get

to the Chevrolet Camaro third generation Which

Thunderhawk is based on that car? was produced

from 82 to 92 So 85 to 88 for the toy line and

82 to 92 for the actual car. Okay, so that car

was in some shape or form in my mind, regardless,

right? So I always wanted it. I asked for it.

It was on all my Christmas lists, but I'm asking

for it in 89, 99. Because I had no idea of the

passage of time and that time mattered in the

retail world. So because I still had Kenner Toys,

So Kenner was always really awesome about having

those little pamphlets in them that were a little

catalog, a little cross sell of everything you

could get. So I would have those and I would

see this iconic vehicle from a show that came

out when I was one. So I had always been searching

for it, going to the toy store, looking for it,

asking my parents for it for Christmas, wanting

it so badly and never actually seeing it in person

until maybe second or third grade. when I think

my mom had found us a bunch of Masked toys at

an outlet store. I thought being a kid Wow, these

are still in the stores So I would Forget about

the outlet store. I always ask Walmart Venture

which was out here at the time thinking. Oh,

it's gonna be there and I never found it So basically

I never got that toy because I had no comprehension

of the passage of time that it was out of the

stores by the time I wanted it and there was

no eBay there was no Facebook marketplace and

Toy resellers weren't really an active thing

back then as far as I know at least not something

my parents would know about in Chicago So I never

got it and then I remember going over to my friend

Robbie's house and Robbie's brother I was maybe

two or three years older than me and he had it

and it was buried in the basement under all this

junk and I found it. These were two very fortunate

kids who had a lot of great toys and they were

very well taken care of by their parents and

you could tell that they were just those kids

who got everything and so much that they forgot

about a lot of the stuff they had. I would go

over there and play with it and it was my favorite

thing to play with when I'd go over to their

house and I even remember the mom saying like,

oh wow, you really love that. so i very sweetly

asked the brother because i thought this is just

the way the world worked i was like well if you

don't want this can i have it that's not the

way the world works dude the answer was no and

i was and surprisingly enough the next time i

went over to their house the car was no nowhere

to be found so he had no obligation to give it

to me and i'm not going to assume that he did

But I had that tendency when I was a kid where

if there was an older boy who was maybe friends

with one of my brothers, an older sibling of

one of my friends, for some reason I felt, oh,

well, if you're not playing with this anymore,

I will take it. I will take it off your hands.

Yes, that's not how. Why I thought that I'll

never know. Okay, I think at some point we need

to come up with a Toycast Origins episode that

is not 42 questions, but it is enough ques -

we need to get your mom on here, dude, because

damn, what in the hell? It's not - So, I thought

of it when she was here, she was visiting a little

over a week ago, and I thought of it, and so

my microphone - As I told you, I'm basically

like mustache to microphone. Yeah, you need to

get a better set up. We need to figure you out

a better set up. But anyway. If I'm going to

have guests, yeah. But as of right now, I think

it's fine. So that's the first one that was completely

denied to me because I had no idea of the passage

of time and I was probably a spoiled rotten little

child who thought I could ask anybody for their

toy and just take it for myself. So that's the

first one. asked for bread when I wasn't supposed

to and I got denied yeah oh boy toy that was

denied to me I mean I've kind of already I mean

the two biggest stories I have are Brian and

Jonathan they wouldn't let me same thing like

they wouldn't let me play with it they wouldn't

even let me barely look at it at times but ones

that like got released that I never got or what

That didn't really happen with me. I mean, I

guess I could say with Transformers because I

don't remember having Devastator. I don't remember

having Omega Supreme. I remember most of the

Transformers I had. I had all the Insecticons.

I had Hot Rod when he came out. I had Rodimus

Prime. I had Optimus. I had Ironhide. I had Ratchet.

I had Blaster and his cassettes. I had what,

you know, all of the, the Microbot, like, but

like the Jump starters and bumblebee and cliff

jumper and all that so and I had the he -man

stuff man Like I've told on this show plenty

of times Gray skull and the goods guys were at

my mom's how that's the biggest part of my story

about Toys that technically were denied to me

were ones. I already had that my dad sold because

he thought I was too old for toys I had all,

I had Snake Mountain and all of the bad guys

at my dad's house for masters back in the eighties

and I was born. See, I think that for people

to really, really understand what the eighties

were, they needed to be born either 77, 78, 79

or 80. Anyone born maybe 1983 or later to really

understand the passage of time in the eighties?

like you're saying you're missing out you don't

even understand by the time that you're talking

about all this mask stuff i was five and six

years old and i had all i had yeah i pretty much

had all the mask vehicles i had rhino i had i

even had boulder hill at my mom's house when

i was living with her so i had a lot of that

stuff So for me, when it comes to like toys that

were denied me, it's more like stuff that I wanted

for Christmas or wanted for my birthday. And

sometimes, you know, if I asked for something

for Christmas and my mom was already getting

me something that she knew I wanted, she would

save that for my birthday, which my birthday

is February 9th. So. From Christmas to February

9th, it's only a couple of months. so i knew

whatever wasn't under the tree at christmas would

most of it would be as birthday presents in february

um no toy for you i mean the only thing i can

remember like actively like really really wanting

and i eventually got it I threw a temper tantrum

in the mall outside of a toy store. I don't think

it was KB, but it was whatever. I wanted that

19... I was nine years old. I wanted that 1989

Batmobile, something fierce. Oh, the one that

actually could fit a figure. Didn't it have like

a lever in it that did something? Yep. And it

had the fake canopy to mimic the shields thing,

just the plastic. Oh my God. Everybody's so worried.

All these toy companies are trying to save the

environment now. You want to go back to the eighties,

you idiots, and look at the plastics that were

used in toy packaging in the eighties, like Styrofoam

and all that stuff. But I remember that 1989

Batmobile had this just generic cutout and it

looked just like the car. It looked just like

what it looked like in the movie, but it was

just a black piece of molded plastic that just

sat on top of the car. That's how they got the

shields for the toy. Shields. Shields open. Which

does beg the question, Is that the only way you

could get the shields with that toy if it was

done that cheaply? Like, I listen to a lot of

Scott Knightlick's videos about the toy industry

and everything and how things have to get costed

out. I remember that shell. And to this day,

I still think really clever way to get that out

to people so you could have that vehicle with

that shell on it and you can mimic that. It obviously

wasn't made to last. it wasn't made to be something

that you could modify or do anything with cool

concept but wow that was the cheapest of cheap

plastics that they put over the top of it yeah

uh i'm actually just googling the uh the toy

so i can see an image of it oh batman 89 batmobile

Yeah, I mean, God, I'm looking at some of these.

Oh, man. I'd be like, like, and I haven't really

wanted a lot of the old like. So from 2005 to

2010, I was doing social work. I was working

with kids. I was I was a. Live -in resident kind

of was like one of those night manager type things,

but I could yeah, I worked there I slept there

I lived there blah blah blah blah blah and I

was getting paid some pretty good money and from

2005 to 2010 is how I Got my old toy collection,

which I promptly sold and sold in 2011 due to

finances but Back then I was like, ooh, like

I just found eBay in 2006 and I was like, ooh

Let me look up 1984 G1 Optimus Prime. A hundred

and something dollars, a hundred and something

dollars here, there, whatever. Oh, this one isn't

complete. 50 bucks, whatever kind of thing. But

like, I distinctly remember buying back my childhood

because my toys, like by the time I grew up,

grew up in quotes. By the time I aged out of

toys, my mom either sold them all, or trashed

them all, or whatever. The only thing she never

trashed was Castle Grayskull. And our apartment

complex, at the time, was after... When was the

big Maddie Collet? It was 2008 to... Somewhere

in 2012, I think? One of the apartments I was

living in had a bug problem, not my fault. And

bugs ended up infestating my 1981 or 2002, whatever

the hell the original Castle Grayskull came out,

the old toy. And I just had to throw it out because

there was bugs everywhere and I did not need

bugs in my apartment. So that toy lasted 30 years.

Because my mom lugged it around everywhere because

essentially the classic Castle Grayskull is Essentially

a briefcase for your action figures because it

had a handle on top of it It's pretty solid which

is yeah about it and Really for me the only thing

I've really seen in the shell of Castle Grayskull

that breaks easily are the hinges. Yep Most of

it you could throw that thing down the stairs.

It'll probably last pretty good. Yeah So Yeah,

Castle Grayskull is an amazing piece. Yes Anything

else you want to say about that? Well, I just

found the the Batman The Batman batmobile with

Okay, so I think we could do a whole separate

episode on this but Toys will look like you were

saying with special features The image I found,

and this has to be an official image somewhere

because it looks like it, the special feature

for the 1989 Batmobile toy was that black plastic

cutout. I just sent you the picture on Facebook,

but like it says on the picture, special feature,

Batmobile shields. It looks better in that picture

than it did when I had it in hand, and I'm trying

to find somebody on here that actually has the

toy, like with the shield on the toy, and I only

see, oh, here we go, here's one. Is that the

same? Yeah. See, that doesn't look right at all.

I mean, it's right, but it doesn't look right.

I'm gonna send this to you too, because I just,

yeah. I just did a Google Image search and there's

all sorts of stuff that came out for that. Let's

see, what'd you send? I just sent you the...

And then the second one is the one that... Like

yeah, that's just a black piece of plastic that

fits on top of it. It's molded to fit the molding

of the vehicle, but it's a big black piece of

plastic. It's still kind of cool, though, but

very random. It is very cool, but I don't remember

mine looking as good as whomever's this picture.

I don't know. I Googled this picture, so I don't

know whose picture this is. But I mean, the car

looks great. Even with the car, having the shields

on the car looks great. I don't remember mine

looking that great. I think the closest we ever

got, and I think I just found a picture of it,

was this really cheap remote control of that

mobile that figures couldn't fit in. And it was

one of those cars that could only go backwards

or forwards. If it went backwards, it went on

a curve so you could turn it. OK. It couldn't

go left or right. It either went straight or

backwards with a turn. And it was on a cord.

So it wasn't even remote control. That was wired

control. And that's what we had. I think it's

because that Batmobile was really hard to find.

I actually wouldn't own a Batmobile until the

animated series one. Oh, I love that one. I love

the more. OK, so you want to talk about toys

that yes, that the 89 and the animated series

Batmobiles did not disappoint as a kid. But the

modern versions of those like the hot toys Batmobile.

Oh, my God. Like, oh. It's perfection. Which,

is that even a toy anymore? I'm serious, is that

even a toy anymore? I think it is. Looking at

some of the hot, any of the hot toys, Batmobiles

are full -size cars. Hot toys are not 12 -inch,

right? Or are they 18 -inch? I don't know. So

it's a 1 -6 scale. Yeah. For anybody who's listening,

that means it's a 12 inch figure because one

inch to one foot when it's at the one sixth scale.

So let's see if we can just get the measurements

on this thing from a review. Yikes. I don't remember.

Okay. So it's, I'm on the sideshow website and

obviously this toy has been out for years. Yeah,

it's sold out, but the price that they have listed

on this is Twice what that we're talking about

this off air that that new ghostwriter has lab

bullshit Yeah, that was three hundred and forty

nine dollars for that and that's a you know,

six inch whatever car whatever the hell it is

this is six hundred and twenty nine dollars and

ninety nine cents and this Obviously the the

hot toys batmobile came out years ago So it is

like it's you know The first measurement I saw

is that it's 40 pounds and costs $130 to ship.

Oh snap. But it's fully in scale and it's very

well detailed. It's very cool, but it's a massive

toy. I don't even know if I can call it a toy.

I'm glad I found the Sideshow website link because

the official image I sent you from Google Is

actually of this hot toys. It's not even the

original That's what I knew those shields look

too goddamn good on This that's what I was wondering.

I thought maybe it was like a proto shot. Yeah

Damn it. Hold on. All right. So this person here

goes by the metric system and they said it was

twenty two point eight centimeters high forty

point six centimeters wide in 99 centimeters

long. So me not being a metric person, I got

it too. Technical difficulties. Let's move on.

Shall we? I found the original and we can compare

the original to, well, technically that does

look the same. It's just the, it's just the hot

toys image that's different. No, that is the

same. Yeah, that is. Yeah. That's okay. Those

two things are the same thing. Now see, The one

in the second image I just sent you looks like

the the the shields canopy thing looks worse

but the one in that first image not the official

hot toys image with the other one it looks better

I don't understand but yeah mine kind of look

like the second image I just sent you it was

kind of like I don't know that that shield for

the original 89 batmobile that piece of plastic

got beat up so much by me. Like, I mean, we didn't

care. Like, yeah, it was cool, but we didn't

really care. We wanted to play with the car,

not the damn shield. I think one of the few times

I've actually seen one of those in person, there's

no way to keep those in good shape. They're the

same old really cheap Halloween decorations.

Yeah. Like when you go to Target or Walmart or

something like that and you see those Halloween,

those cheap holiday Decorations that are just

stacked up and through that blow mold thing where

you just fill the mold with plastic and knock

it out and all that stuff. Yeah So Let's move

on just in the interest of time. Okay, this doesn't

have to be a long episode You know we can make

this short we could but when have I ever? Not

drag things out beyond the necessary amount of

time so the next majorly denied toy that I didn't

get since I was an adult. And I feel like I still

might be missing from some some things from it

that I have to double check. So early 90s, one

of those extreme shows that had to have five

seconds of entertainment value, not entertainment

value, education value to it in order to meet

the federal guidelines for cartoons at the time.

Yep. That's a great example. But that actually

had far more educational content, thanks to good

old Ted Turner, than what I found in Mighty Max.

Mighty Max is actually a very good show. It was

one of the first shows on Saturday morning or

whatever, where people and characters died. There's

an episode that is very much an homage to the

Magnificent Seven where all of these heroes from

all over the world come together and towards

the end of the episode, they are all brutally

murdered one by one. And you don't see them get

murdered, but they get murdered. What year was

that? Do you remember off the top of your head?

I would say 94 if I had to guess, 93, 94. Yeah,

you need to, I'm going to just immediately correct

you before the audience comes after you about

brutal deaths when it comes to characters. Optimus

Prime, 1986. Megatron shot him and he died. So

in the 90s to find a show where people died was

very uncommon. Yes, I know Optimus Prime got

punked out. and then he died again, and then

he got punked out again, and then he died again.

You got to be a zombie for Halloween one year.

Yes, they couldn't decide what to do with him,

and the franchise never recovered. We all know

that story. But in the 90s, it was not common

to find a cartoon where somebody... Where you

would have deaths of side characters on important

characters background characters and that's because

of the trauma From optimist prime dying in the

90s the the it says it right there in in the

tiny human ventures theme song You know, we're

gonna crack the sensors the sensors were up in

the 90s because of cartoons That had deaths in

them in the 80s. I mean I would I would guess

though so but Let's just correct ourselves. Optimus

Prime died in the cinematic release. This was

not cinematically released. Yeah, but still,

it's still part of the cartoon. It's still part

of the franchise. It's still a character. It

is, but it was probably more likely to happen

in the cinema than ever on a Saturday morning

22 minute toy commercial. Yes, well, they learned

their lesson on that, supposedly. So anyways.

So, Mighty Max, as far as I remember, I should

have done my research a little bit better. Mighty

Max started off as a response to the popular

Polly Pocket at the time. And I think this was

almost in reaction to gas prices going up. So,

as gas prices go up, or oil prices rather go

up, plastic prices also go up. So, a lot of companies

at the time said, let's go smaller. Let's bring

it down a little bit. Let's have toys be more

portable, have these smaller little pieces and

make it more affordable. But you get more bang

for your buck. So Polly Pocket was all about

this tiny little girl running around in these

foldable play sets and all these different environments.

And I think the company was called Blue Jay.

I think it's like a British company that made

those. And they decided we're going to go with

Mighty Max as the boy response because. Clearly

boys and girls can't play with the same toys,

so whatever. So Mighty Max comes out and it hits

the sci -fi and horror themes very hard. In ways

that you don't really see much at all. So just

for example, I'm gonna pull up some of the playset

names. Here's large play sets. I don't want the

large play sets. So while you're pulling that

up, I will say that Polly Pocket, 1989 to the

present, started out at Bluebird Toys, 89 to

98, and then Mattel took over from 1998 to today.

So Mattel has Polly Pocket currently. I don't

know who has Mighty Max. That'd be a good thing

to find out. That's what I'm doing right now.

So just to point out some of the names of the

sets. So what was cool is that each of the sets...

had its own title. It was a little bit like Indiana

Jones and the Temple of Doom or whatever, but

it was more action based. So one of the first

play sets was Mighty Max Conquers the Palace

of Poison, also known as the Temple of Venom.

Mighty Max escapes from Skull Dungeon. Mighty

Max liquidates the ice alien. Mighty Max slays

the Doom Dragon. He's like a 12 year old doing

all of this. Let's just remember that. But anyways,

so There was mighty max bite cyberskull grips

the hand the hand is a decaying hand that you

unfold and it's really gross but the horror theme

was so heavy even in that they had a side series

called the horror heads and then there were monster

heads dread heads shrunken heads and They were

very appropriate for Halloween. They were very

appropriate for horror themes and I got into

them big time. I loved them. I loved collecting

the little Mighty Max figures that came in each

one of them. I had maybe four or five. I know

I definitely had four of them, and I have those

on my shelf right now. And I might have had some

of the smaller ones, but they were some of the

coolest figures that didn't do anything. It just

was a fun little mini playset. They didn't take

up a ton of space. You had easy crossovers. And

then they started releasing other packs that

gave you the characters from the cartoon as the

cartoon became popular. So for me, I really wanted

what I thought was the biggest and best playset,

which as far as I know, I was wrong. There's

a better one than this I'm looking for right

now. But it was Mighty Max Trapped in Skull Mountain,

which was one of the most important sets in the

show, one of the most important locations. and

it was a very large set. I would say it's maybe

a quarter of the size of Castle Grayskull, maybe

a third of the size. Like, it's pretty big and

it operates just like Castle Grayskull. It opens

up and there's a whole adventure on the inside.

And it's a very unique piece and there's a lot

going on in it. And when you get it, it has seven

unique figures and a ton of other accessories

and all this other stuff. So I wanted that very

badly. I was very excited for it. And I can't

remember why I thought I was entitled to getting

it. I think it's because I had saved up some

money. I think it's because maybe it was a report

card present or something like that. But I was

like, it's a lock that I'm going to get it. So

I get the Toys R Us catalog. that has it in there,

and I'm like, boom, right there, there's everything

I want, this is gonna happen, let's go. So I

don't know how it came down to it, but it was

going to be my dad who was going to take me to

go get it at Toys R Us. That's as far as I remember,

it was supposed to be him, his job, his duty

to take me, and I was like, all right, this is

in the bag. I might have been in fourth or fifth

grade, I was excited, I'm like, let's go, let's

do this. So my dad was, I think, planning to

take me. We're heading out the door. He asked

me, what did I want to get? And I showed him

in the catalog. And the topic of the conversation

became whether or not it was too young of a toy

for me to get. And I was shocked. I was like,

what do you mean? I can get whatever I want.

It's my report card present. This is what I want.

Now whether or not this is being an entitled

child or being a mistaken child or maybe just

having a big gap in communication between me

and my dad, he suddenly was just like, no, you're

not getting it. Not a chance. You're not getting

this. You're too young for it. I'm like, no,

it says on the box. And I can't remember what

the age range was because I can't find a clear

picture of the box. I was within the range of

the box. It was a $30 toy. I can see a sticker

here for one store $29 .97. It was supposed to

be mine. I was supposed to be playing with it,

and I never got it, and it just never happened.

And I'm not sure why. I think it's because I

ended up getting something else when I went to

the store. I don't know for sure. But whatever

changed the reason I never got it, It is one

of those things that stuck with me for a long

time. Like I always wanted it, but the problem

with Mighty Max toys is that you either drop

a ton of money to get them complete or you spend

a little bit of money and you get them missing

every single part in the known world. So. The

thing was right around that time my dad was very

much in the headspace of you're gonna lose all

your toys They're just gonna wind up broken in

the basement or you know behind a couch or blah

blah blah and I don't know if that was his go

-to excuse for why he wasn't going to Get me

anything or stop buying me toys, but that was

kind of What happened with everything at that

point? You're gonna lose it kind of fall apart,

so I became determined to never lose my toys

in that era so 93 94 95 96 so i actually took

very good care because of my anger and resentment

i took very good care of most of the toys i got

from that point on that's why i still have and

maybe we'll save it for another episode why i

still have a lot of my power ranger stuff because

i was like no you told me i was going to lose

it i am not going to but That was my no toy for

you never got it finally gotten his adult. It's

missing a lot of pieces I got it from a goodwill

and It's missing most of the pieces and I'm staring

at it right now and as soon as we get off I'm

gonna go see what's missing from it because it's

gonna drive me a little crazy So you talked about

the conquerors the temple of venom playset. Yeah

This thing is nothing like Castle Grayskull Okay,

well the only picture they have here is on the

toyline Wikipedia article is is The venom thing

because his tongue apparently holds it open which

is weird No, I'm sending you another wiki page

now. Oh Okay, got it Okay, yes. Yes. All right.

I see that now. Yeah. Yeah Got it. All right,

that'll work Yeah, I there wasn't a lot because

my see the other thing is and I say this every

episode of this podcast and every episode Of

every podcast I've recorded in the last six months

The 80s was a time where things moved You had

G .I. Joe in 82. You had He -Man in 83. You had

Transformers and Voltron and other things in

84. And those went through the 80s until they

ended. Transformers ended in 87. You pick up

after Transformers. You pick yourself up off

the ground and you go to Turtles or you go to

this or you go to that. There was always something

new and something interesting with franchises

because franchises were just becoming a thing

at that time. in modern media, film, animation,

television, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

So you had all these things that transition.

By the time we get to the 90s, you have the...

I don't want to say resurgence, but I'm going

to say resurgence of superheroes, because you

have Batman the Animated Series. You have all

the Marvel shows with X -Men and Spider -Man

and all that and everything else. But it moved

along. It moved us through. And by the time the

90s roll around with 1993 and Power Rangers...

We weren't necessarily aging out, but we were

growing up into our teen years and we were kind

of out of toys at that, you know, we're in middle

school and high school and, you know, people,

you know, our families, parents and other relatives

wanted us to grow up and grow out of these pieces

of plastic and, you know, cartoons and whatever.

Well, most of us never did. Well, and part of

that is because our generation of parents, we

can basically, I think I could accurately say

boomers, not derogatorily, because I know that's

like one of those new terms we say, okay, boomer.

But it was that boomer generation of you did

have your time with toys, you did do those things.

And then there was a certain point where, okay,

time to move on. You need to go start doing other

things, because that's what they did. And I'm

not. Saying that they were wrong for doing that.

I'm not saying they were right for doing that,

but I know for My dad at least from his upbringing

for better or for worse. It was Okay. Now you

got to go do the big kid things. You have to

go play baseball You have to go hang out girls.

You have to go get a job and all those all those

things that were I think a lot harder for You

know, I was born in 84. My brothers were 80 and

82 respectively It was a very different world

for us because those. It was a different world

for the people that were born after 82 because

you were still growing up. You didn't have that

luxury of being five or six years old in 1986

and 1987. You were still younger. You were like

86, 87 for you was like 82 and 83 and 84 for

me with my Fisher Price flashlights and play

school. and all that and everything else. So,

yeah, people, yeah, go ahead. Well, I mean, if

you think about it, though, a lot of the stuff

that was big in the 80s for you, G .I. Joe, Transformers,

He -Man, being big three, when I was starting

to actively play with toys, so think 87, 88,

Those weren't really gone. They maybe weren't

as strong They weren't gone but like by 87 both

cartoon series were gone I think I know I know

I know Transformers ended in 87 and the toy line

lasted up until I think Late 88 early 89 kind

of thing. But I mean, yeah again what I said

a minute ago about the transition of thing, you

know For you in 87 watching cartoons or playing

with toys you were probably into turtles or you

were probably into I'm just gonna say because

I know this is off top my you know ducktails

or tailspin or Something around that time that

came out Because that was your young age thing

to be exposed to where is someone who like your

brothers or like myself We were exposed to a

lot of the earlier eighties things because we

were born before you. Well, yeah. And but I still

got that stuff, too, because they were still

into it. They're still playing with it. Our house

is still filled with I still have our original

G .I. Joe headquarters that my brother got one

Christmas. I still have our original Castle Grayskull

and Snake Mountain that my brother got for Christmas

when they came out. We have a picture somewhere

of him having. Got in those boxes and unwrap

them and was excited and So I still have those

things downstairs in the basement because yeah,

I I adopted them they became mine. Yeah, so Part

of my upbringing was I got all the stuff that

was big for me and directed towards me at that

point But I also got all the stuff that was before

so I like to think Being like maybe a mid 80s

kid 83 84 85 We still got a lot of the really

cool stuff from the 80s if we had older siblings

yeah no absolutely yeah you did absolutely the

thing is for anyone who was like me who was an

only child if you were born at any point after

like I said the early eighties like okay a couple

years ago there was and you see these pop up

often sometimes oh my god I know like I never

saw like my parents wouldn't let me watch cartoons

I never knew about gem or he man or and you see

these like you to react to use this this is about

five six years ago or something you see these

you to reaction videos might be longer than that

of these people watching like the it's the cameras

on them they're not actually showing you obviously

the cartoon but it's on them and they're watching

you here in the background uh... uh... truly

outrageous around transform or else you know

and you're seeing them react to it is they've

never seen it before it's like Yeah, I lived

through that I experienced there's nothing like

a first -hand experience for anything and if

you miss out on it And you try to find it later

Sometimes you're that person of oh my god like

I just said oh my god. This is so cool or oh

that like think of What's the worst 80s thing

you've ever seen like cartoon toy wise? Oh. Let's

just go with toys. Okay. Worst. Like, for me,

the first thing I think of is Attack of the Killer

Tomatoes. Like, that was a bad cartoon. If it

had a toy line, it was probably even worse. It

did have a toy line, and I've got some of them.

And, which I'm sure you're shocked by. Not really.

You have Waterworld toys, so, you know. Well,

the so the killer tomato toys actual tomatoes

themselves are really They're like the squeeze

balls. They're like mad balls. They Okay. Yeah,

and they work fine. They they do exactly what

they're supposed to do They're supposed to open

their mouths and bite something and hold it down.

Yeah, I'm looking at the bell god Yeah, the human

figures that came with them were just little

PVC figure figures that didn't move didn't have

articulation and were relatively boring but the

tomatoes were fine and Yeah. The cartoon, I think,

was a eight episode, 10 episode season. Yeah,

whatever it was. You know, and everybody moved

on. So that was a bad one. I think. I mean, if

I were to look at my shelf right now and tell

you what is the worst toy I own from the 80s.

But my point is, it's not necessarily about you

pinpointing that, it's more about. People your

age or you people younger than me at 42 years

old and you know, you're still you're born 84

so you were you know, you grew up and you have

a different lifespan with entertainment and media

and toys than I did because You have to find

things that already happened You didn't get to

like what you're starting to experience if you

were born 84 by the time you were 567 years old

you're experiencing turtles so yes you. You got

that experience you're experiencing duck tails

tailspin dark wing duck ventures the gummy bears

probably no gummy bears but i got big in the

aliens and predator yeah yeah so i mean the things

that are coming out the years that you're growing

up those formative years like right before you

hit first grade. Are. quintessential and if you're

not born in 81 82 80 81 or 82 or before then

you're not it's it's kind of like you either

get it when you get it or you miss out or it's

before like people say to me like what is it

mystery science theater 3000 I've seen clips

Never watched it when I was a kid. What's the

other one people always ask me about not Beakman's

world? Herman's head? No, I remember Herman's

head. No what what? Weirville? No, it's not Tron.

It's Laser tag. No, I knew laser laser tag was

the 90s late 80s early 90s there's Oh, Dungeons

and Dragons. Like, OK, it's like I know I knew

there was a cartoon for it, but I never got.

But it's like, I just missed that. I was I was

too like I didn't see the original Tron movie.

I did not see it until a week before Tron Legacy

came out in 2010, 2011, because I was too fucking

years old when the movie came out. Oh, OK. So

worse thing from the 80s that I saw as a kid

and still have a hard time liking. And this might

be blasphemy for some people is Tron. Tron would

be what? Yeah, Tron is classic. Oh, yes, it is.

It's true for me. It was one of the worst things

I'd ever seen. See, I think the thing is, we

didn't like people who saw it that weren't our

parents or adults or young like a teenage like

someone who was 13 to 23. In the eighties that

saw that movie, maybe they got it because they

were older kind of thing. But for us kids, yeah,

it may have looked weird. It meant like, what's

this? What's that? And there were plenty of other

weird things in the eighties that we either didn't

like or didn't understand or were before. Like

I know of the mysterious cities of gold. I saw

that show. I don't like that show. I don't like

that cartoon. I know a buddy of mine loves that

cartoon, but I just never got into it. So that's

my point is that we all have different experiences

and we all either get to experience certain things

at certain times or we miss out on them. And

that's the thing about no toy for you here on

Toycast is that if we missed out on something

or if we were denied something and didn't get

it, or we never ended up getting it now as an

adult, as long as it's not, you know, Too expensive,

we can probably find it and find new enjoyment

for it. Like, again, one of these things, folks,

at some point on another podcast I do, I don't

know if we'll actually record this as a podcast,

but I do Beyond the Night, which is our Knight

Rider podcast. And at some point, Josh and I

are going to watch season one, episode one, the

pilot of God, Night of the Phoenix. And you've

met, the only thing you know of Knight Rider

is the car, David Hasselhoff and him, his drunk

experience with a cheeseburger. Like you, you

only know the Ironman part of the story, the

end of 2008. Like, come on, everybody sit down.

I'm going to have a cheeseburger. Let's go. That's

all you know. So at some point folks, I'm going

to take Josh on a shadowy flight and he is going

to actually experience what it was like watching

Knight Rider. 40 years ago. And that's the point

is that no matter when we were born, between

the 70s, 80s and 90s, if we were born at certain

times, we missed out on certain things before

we were born. Or if we were born, you know what

I mean? Like it's a whole thing. Well, yeah,

I very much there's stuff we missed out on stuff

we wish we were part of. And Part of the reason

I didn't kill a lot of toys, like I said before,

is that I had no concept of the passage of time.

So I always had one foot in previous year's stuff,

whether it was because my brothers had it, we

got it at a garage sale, we got it at a thrift

store, we got it at an liquidator outlet store

where I'd been sitting for a couple years. Those

toys that I was finding in the early 90s at this

outlet store until it closed, and I have no idea

when it closed. But there's toys that I was finding

that by now, by today's standards, super rare,

super obscure, super expensive now. Oh, yeah.

And they were just stacked up to the ceiling

from what I remember about this store. And there

was stuff that I could find there and would find

there. And I still have one of them. It's Zizulander

from The Botsmaster, that 90s hip hop, somewhat

3D show. And I have the big robot from that had

no idea it was actually an incredibly rare piece

at the time to find all in one gift set. And

it was maybe 15 bucks at the time. And it's stuff

like that that had already been discontinued

in the other stores that I was always into. So

that's why I knew about food fighters. That's

why I knew about several toy lines that I was

into because I got them very late. Right. Yeah.

And again, there's nothing wrong with what we're

Like with what you're saying or with what I'm

saying in this podcast, it's all about experiences.

Again, I reference the tech YouTubers that I

watch all the time, Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD.

He has a series or he had a series on his channel

called Retro Tech, where he was too young. to

he never experienced an original game boy before

kind of thing. And I think it's cool for people

that do that kind of stuff, that look back on

that and neither they like it or they dislike

it, or they're just, you know, indifferent to

it kind of thing. And the same thing with us.

Like I don't, as, as a full child of the eighties

from 1980 to 81, when I was one years old, all

the way up to 1989 to 1990, when I was nine and

10 years old. I don't feel like I missed out

on anything of the stuff that I was paying attention

to. But there was plenty of other things that

I was not paying attention to that others did.

Well, and imagine imagine the toy economy of

the 80s with the internet today. That's That's

some math I do not even want to try to look at

because those numbers will just fry my brain.

But think about all those little toy lines, all

those lines that had one run that were really

obscure or... I mean, how many shows can we possibly

think about that never got toys or some that

got one line of toys or the shows that we didn't

even know had toys? You didn't even know that

Attack of the Killer Tomato had toys? Not many

people do. Yeah, I mean, I remember it. I just

didn't remember if it did or not. But after looking

it up and looking at the toys, I do remember

it. Well, food fighters didn't have a cartoon

but had toys. If you didn't find it at the store,

if you didn't just show up to the store one day

looking around, you would not have known it was

a thing nor known how many were out there. Why

was it out there? When did you get it? Like most

people I know who bought it. Got it at a dollar

store computer warriors is another good example

computer warriors I think had one episode that

came in a VHS tape with a special edition of

One of the toy lines yeah The only reason why

I remember food fighters is because I remember

the commercials because usually I would see the

food fighter commercials Right alongside the

mad balls commercials like they would play those

back -to -back, but I never had any interest

in the food fighters which I can't blame you.

Oh, you mean I can take all the same stuff as

my GI Joe's put it on a food body and play with

it like that. Like, it doesn't make sense. It

just is so obscure and random and weird and fun.

And that's another toy line. And I don't really

have a huge story into it, but I was denied it

because I got it. randomly at like a Dominic's

with my grandmother. Yeah. And it wasn't being

sold in any other toy line or excuse me, any

other toy aisle at any other store. Yeah. So

it was denied to me because I got it by complete

random eighties happenstance. And by that point,

they were already out of the stores. The same

goes for army ants. Do you remember them? No.

Really cool toy line but not really a TV show

battle beast no TV show I okay I take that back.

Battle was I remember I had a lot of those yeah.

But not really they they were in the transformers

universe but I don't think anybody remember seeing

them on TV yeah no they were not if they had

a TV show yeah I don't remember. But I remember

having I think they're in some of the Japanese

only. episodes of the original Transformers,

but don't quote me on that. But yeah, there were

so many tour lines that didn't have shows, shows

that had tour lines that nobody knew about. So

it's fascinating of all the stuff we can find

there. And then when I go to Kane County in a

couple of weeks, I can try to report back and

I'll do a vlog for Toycast. Or we could just

do a Kane County recap podcast like we did last

time. Yeah, we I don't think we did that this

past spring so we can do another one. No, we

can do the one for the fall Yeah, all right,

so let's ask the audience What toys do you feel

that you missed out on what toys are a no toy

for you? And you guys can let us know like I

said before You can let us know you can email

us feedback at key cast radio calm Or you can

tweet at us at TF toy cast on Twitter I am at

TF2 and Mike, he is at Floor Burger 553. Let

us know what toys that you feel that you missed

out on or what toys that you felt that you've

had to recapture that you didn't have as a kid

in the 80s or 90s or earlier, later, whenever

kind of thing. Next up on the podcast, I have

got Dan from Rock Nerd Radio from Hudson River

Radio. He's doing his Toy Origins. So that's

coming up. And for episode 159, it's kind of,

you know, we can kind of do a combo. So we can

do the Kane County recap for that episode, but

I've been, I've had this drafted for months now.

Toys that we fell into so last year we did the

that the toys of fall or the toys of summer and

you had said something about doing traffic keepers

or something for the toys of fall and going back

to school and all that i don't remember if we

actually did that episode but the toys that we

fell into is kinda like. Not necessarily the

best deals but what are some of the best toys

that just kinda we just have we don't remember

where we got them how we got them but they're

just. in our minds or in our collections or they

were at some point or another oh my yes i think

big when my brain actually works so i think that's

that's gonna do it hello gotham cornerstone yes

we seem to be down to our last diet cook a gentleman

is on his way to pick some up Just look for a

black car. No, this black car will be rather

difficult to miss. And by the way, the gentleman

is usually in quite a rush. See ya folks, that's

gonna do it for us here on Toycast. Josh, do

you have any closing words before I say the closing

slogan? I'm trying to come up with something

insightful. I think I'm just going to say that

sometimes the most memorable toys, not good,

not bad, that this ever happens, sometimes the

most memorable toys are the ones that you never

get. And then the story and the path that it

takes you to finally get it. Absolutely. Join

us next time when we'll be talking more toys

here on Toycast. Peace.