Top 100 Countdown – TOYS – Part 2 – #100-76

Hey, this is Frank Todaro, otherwise known as

Starscream, and you're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys

R Us kid. They got a million toys at Toys R Us

that I can play with. I don't wanna grow up,

I'm a Toys R Us kid. They got the best for so

much less. You'll really flip your lid. From

bikes to trains to video games. It's the biggest

toy store there is. Gee whiz! Toys R Us, kid!

Once a Toys R Us kid. Always a Toys R Us kid.

We're now listening to GeekCast Radio and ToyCast

as we continue the Top 100 Toys Countdown. Today

we'll be revealing entries number 100 through

76. I am one of your hosts, TFT and Mike. Joining

me almost always is the rubber ducky loving Steve

Megatron. Hello. Yo. And from the planet of KT

Toys, we have none other than Mr. Optimus Solo.

Hello. oh oh so take it away sir and let us know

what we'll be starting with here in part two

of the gcr and top 100 toys countdown well we're

going to be counting down like you said numbers

100 through 76 before we get into the actual

number just like we hopefully you listen to the

intro episode but we'll be keeping track of a

bunch of things toy companies toy categories

when they premiered or were released to the public

things like that we'll be mentioning how many

lists they made it how many points they got for

various things and it's going to be a bunch of

fun and then once we get through all of the countdown

100 through one which will be four episodes then

we'll probably do another wrap -up episode where

we talk about ones that didn't make it ones that

we think should have made it should not have

made it should have been higher should have been

lower that's what we get into over the course

of this is debating on or how high, how low,

things of that nature. So it's going to be interesting.

Toys has a lot of variety. So it'll be interesting

to see out of the 25 we revealed today which

ones we all voted for. I can tell you I voted

for less than half of these. So it's going to

be interesting. And I think what's going to be

very interesting is when we get into the ones

that just missed the countdown at the end of

all of this. I think the 10 that were closest

are going to be very interesting to see people's

reactions. I also, and we should really go back,

I should go back through all the top 100 lists

that we've ever done to see how many times we

start the countdown off with a tie. Because I

think it's happened. I think it's about every

time. Every time! Every fucking time! We go on

a point system based on all the lists that are

turned into us. And, you know, we have a variety

of lists that we'll mention to the people that

were involved throughout this countdown. And

we tally up their rankings. We give point totals

and that's what determines a tie. So if they

have the exact same point total, that gives us

a tie. Tiebreaker is very simple. It's either

how many, who was appeared in more lists. That's

the first tiebreaker is just who appeared on

more of the entrance. And if they appeared on

the exact same number of lists, then it's which

one had the highest ranking out of the two. So

we're starting off with a tie. So we're going

to give a 101, I guess, in this countdown. And

then we'll get into 100, which will be the same

point total. So starting off with number 101.

And it's interesting that these two are the ones

that tied. But we're going to start with... In

the action figure world, this is the starting

lineup sports action figures. So these are action

figures, I guess you could say, or figurines.

They're not really action figures because action

implies that you can do stuff. These are just

more like posed figures. It's a hit! New starting

lineup! The official collection of Major League

Baseball stars. So real, they seem alive. There's

Gary Carter, great uniform. Wally Joyner, hitting

a homer. Ozzie Smith. And they have been around

for a lot of variety of sports, basketball, football,

baseball, hockey, etc. They started in 1988 from

the toy company Kenner. obviously developed in

the United States of America. I did have some

of these. My family or my mom or my parents,

I'm not sure, got me some. I was a big Chicago

Cubs fan, so they got me a variety of Cubs starting

lineup figures. I think maybe I had a dozen at

the most. I never really collected them outside

of that, so I just had the ones that they gifted

me in some way, shape, or form. These have been

around for a long time. Like I said, they debuted

in 1988. They're still around, I believe. I'm

not sure. They still keep making them. I don't

know if you can get them in actual like Target

Walmart per se, but I think you can get them

through other avenues. Mike, did you ever have

or see any starting lineup figures in your lifetime?

I had every single 80s Red Sox player they ever

made. I had all the Boston Celtics. I had all

the New England Patriots that they made. Of course,

the Patriots, I barely remember any of their

names other than Doug Flutie, but that's just

whatever. I did not have any of the Bruins ones,

sadly, but those were the ones that I was collecting

with that. I think I might have had a Michael

Jordan or a Magic Johnson, but other than that,

yeah, I loved starting lineup as a kid. They

were so cool. I think at times these were given

away at events, games, and things of that nature,

so there was special edition ones that you could

get at an actual baseball game or things of that

nature. Steve, did you ever have any starting

lineups? I think I had a couple of Detroit Red

Wings characters. I think I may have had Iserman

or Osgood or something, one of those two. at

one point but i really didn't get into those

because there really wasn't much playability

with them right yeah it's more of a posing thing

set on your shelf and display type thing but

i think what it what it was and what it makes

unique is that in the world of the wide world

of sports you know in all the major sports there's

not a lot to buy outside of clothing or like

the cards you know baseball cards football cards

those types of things so sports cards and clothing

And there wasn't a lot of other options as far

as what you could buy. I guess you could buy

like a baseball glove or a basketball that had

like the logo on it. So this was kind of like

a way to have a toy that was also in your favorite,

whatever, athlete, sports team, sport, you know,

whatever it might be. And there wasn't a lot

of other things you could do in that realm. So

I kind of get it as far as like being a unique

crossover between sports and toys that you didn't

get a lot of. they're tied i just find this one

very unique so coming in i guess officially now

at number 100 is another group of action figures

and it might not be sports but how about some

sports entertainment this is wrestling action

figures big match of my house i'll bring my guys

you have yours i've got junkyard dog it's world

wrestling federation superstars i've got brutus

beefkin here's george i've got great never valentine

ricky the dragon steve they're so real and rowdy

rock then you tell the difference wrestling superstars

they're for real So starting lineup and wrestling

action figures are tied for that number 100 spot.

I find that very interesting. Wrestling action

figures have been around for quite some time.

Probably the most notable entrance into the realm

of toys would have been in the 1984 era with

the LJN wrestling superstars line. But I'm sure,

Mike, you can speak to this even more probably

than I can. Wrestling action figures have had

a lot of variations, a lot of different iterations

from different companies representing WWE and

AEW and WCW and all kinds of different sizes.

And there was the, what were they called? The

ones, the bendies that we had. I forget what

the actual name of those were, but yeah, I know

exactly what you're talking about. The ones that

you could bend the arms and it just kind of flung

by. It was almost like... Oh, what the hell is

it called? Almost like Blast Punch He -Man a

little bit, but it was more flexible than an

actual... tvc figure it was like you said bendy

it was the material of it was different yeah

and these these were very much out there and

around i know i had a number of friends that

had tons of stuff and the thing that you could

do with this is you could also get like the rings

like instead of a place like you would for other

action figures you get like the different rings

whether it be wrestlemania or whatever it might

be And then you would have all the different

figures. I never owned any figures myself. As

an adult, I did buy a Tatanka figure that's still

in the box just because, well, I didn't buy it.

I think Amanda got it for me for some type of

present, Christmas, birthday, something of that

nature, just because that was always my favorite

figure. So I have two Tatanka figures of different

versions. It's sealed in the box, but I've never

bought any. But I know I had a ton of friends

that had them out and they'd be like missing.

pieces or broken or things of that nature because

they just what are you going to do with wrestling

action figures besides bash them into each other

so it wasn't you can't find a lot of like original

ones that were out of the box that are in great

condition because of how hard these got played

with but mike what was your experience with wrestling

action figures I had a lot of them. I think I

had at least one WWE ring. I only really needed

one ring. I know they made a bunch of rings,

as you said, for various whatever, but I had

a lot of the WWE figures as a kid. I like that

they've been doing over the last, I think it's

been maybe five or ten years, WWE crossovers.

We had two waves of the TMNT WWE, so you have

Raph as Macho Man or Leo as... whatever. And

those are really cool. What they're doing with

the modern stuff with the wrestling stuff is

really cool. Yeah, and it kind of works into

especially the fad these days, which is figures

to come with multiple faces or multiple hands

or interchangeable parts. That really works for

wrestling because they can do all kinds of different

stuff with some of those characters and have

different arrows represented or different things.

So it's kind of interesting to see all the different

lines these days. They also have a pretty cool

There's a He -Man crossover between one. There

is. Yeah, as well. It's Masters of the WWE, I

believe it's called. I forget what figures are

in that line, but I did see Pixel Dan do a video

on those. Steve, either comments on wrestling

figures in general or just the fact that we've

had two action figure groups starting lineup

in wrestling figures to start off this countdown?

I think it's funny that we had two sports action

figures lineups right from the get -go. Glad

that they're here. The wrestling ones, I'm kind

of surprised it hit 100. I'm surprised it's not

higher on the list, just because there's such

a huge cult following behind wrestling, and there's

whole stores, like toy stores, of just people's...

wrestling figures, and I used to have some of

the old WCW during the NWO days. So I had Macho

Man and the WCW ring, and my brothers and my

stepdad had a bunch of different ones, and then

we would mess around with it, and then we had

some of the video games and things like that.

So I'm glad that they're here and represented,

and if people want more thoughts on wrestling,

they can go check the Top 100 Wrestling countdown.

Yeah, that's true. That's very true. And wrestling

figures have been around for almost 40 years.

Next year will be 40 years since that original

1984 debut. I'm not saying there wasn't other

figures maybe that predated that, but the main

one from WWE started in 1984. Like I said, that

was from LJN. I believe Mattel has a lot of the

license for some of the wrestling figures, but

there's different companies represented by different

brands, so it's kind of hard to pinpoint just

one. starting lineup has the wwe license yeah

but like aew is probably a different company

and right yeah who knows what else but and like

i said before some of these companies obviously

get changed the rights get bought out or companies

buy other companies so like i said with starting

lineup figures that started as a kenner thing

they're currently owned by hasbro um and like

we said wrestling and lgn but now currently most

of the wwe stuff is mattel so it'll be interesting

to track some of that as well So action figures

dominating early on. We'll see how that goes

as we move into our number 99, which is completely

different. This was a write -in vote by a lot

of people because I did fail to have this on

the toy catalog. Mainly, I guess I just didn't

think of it at the time, but gladly enough people

did to write it in, I guess. So number 99 is

going to be the infamous Walkie Talkie. Here's

a space -age gift for kids from Radio Shack.

The original Space Patrol walkie -talkie. You

get two for just $14 .95 a pair, and they really

work. They're crystal -controlled and battery

-operated, just like Dad's bigger CB units. And

they're built in Radio Shack's own electronics

factory. So this Christmas, thrill your kids

with a $14 .95 a pair Space Patrol. Only at Radio

Shack. A Tandy Company. I think you can date

this as a toy. back into the 1935 era. Now, obviously,

walkie -talkies are originally going to be made

for other purposes, war -related and things of

that nature, but they're going to then make their

way into kids' rooms as a plaything. I never

actually had a walkie -talkie growing up ever,

I don't think, so it's not something I played

with, but I totally get it because being able

to talk with the next -door neighbor, if you

had a friend that lived next door or maybe a

couple doors down, they didn't have a huge range.

or just being able to have inside, outside, or

from upstairs, downstairs, that type of thing.

I get the fun for sure. Mike, did you ever have

a walkie -talkie, or what do you think as far

as its worthiness of being in the top 100? Do

you consider that a toy? Oh, yeah, 100%. It definitely

is. And I had, I think my cousins and I had some,

but we would only ever really use them if they

came over to my house and stayed the night or

whatever, and I went over to their house, vice

versa. Yeah, it wasn't... The thing with the

walkie talkies is you need brothers and sisters

or lots of cousins. And I did have lots of cousins,

but I was an only child. So half the time I was

reading books or playing with other action figures

or whatever. So, but no, it was always super

fun when we would get together and use them.

Yeah. Just a different thing you could do, especially

with a role playing or just like other types

of games where you're not necessarily tied to

like a video game or a TV or an action figure.

It's like more so like things that you could

do as you run around the house or the yard or

things of that nature. And I believe 1935 is

like the kind of more of the war use. I don't

think that's when it actually was in kids' hands,

but it's hard to trace back exactly the history

of like when it becomes more of a quote unquote

toy. Steve, what do you think of the walkie talkie

here making our list? I totally forgot about

this, even though I've had various versions of

this over the years. I mean, I had the Ninja

Turtle walkie talkies like back when I was a

kid and totally blanked on this. But it brought

back memories. And honestly, my kids have them

in various forms. I mean, like more of the more

modern, smaller, compact hiking versions. But

I mean, it's still the same concept. Yeah, absolutely.

It gives a lot of variety of different things

you can do with the walkie talkie. You know,

you can lend it to a lot of different types of

games or adventure things or whatever you're

doing as a child. So I think it's definitely

worthy of being here. Again, I spaced just like

you and didn't include it on my list, but I have

no problem with it being in the top 100. Going

into 98 is going to be interesting because if

you would have asked me to list franchises that

had action figures that would be included in

the top 100, I don't think I would have got to

this one if I listed the top 20 or 25 in my head,

but it is here, so I'm hoping that you guys can

speak more to it because it was not anywhere

near my radar. And this is going to be from a

Tycho release from 1988. So this is maybe slightly

past when I was doing some of the action figures.

I'm not sure, but we're going to the world of

dino riders. The greatest battle in the history

of the universe is about to begin. They're about

to attack. Quickly, we'll have to trap them in

the canyon. The Dimetrodons are harmless. Leave

them be. The clever dino riders seal off the

escape route. It's up to you, commandos. Now!

Leaping into the path of the thundering giants,

the commandos close off the front of the pass.

Blast them to bits, admin. Put this in your Easter

basket, Krulos. Don't forget to ride home, relax.

The Dino Riders put on the finishing touches,

but Phulos escapes on Tyrannosaurus Rex. Look

out! Sky! The Stegosaurus! Take this, lizard

lips! I'll be back, Quistar! The battle is over,

but the action's just beginning with a complete

Dino Riders collection. Dino Riders! Hardest

power! Dino Riders. The Dino Riders are ambushed.

We've got you outnumbered, Gunner. Get your craft,

Hammerhead. The evil Rulons on Triceratops close

in on the Dino Riders. I've waited a long time

for this, Gunner. Laser cannon fire distracts

the Rulon beast. Sure hope you can swim, fish

bait. Taurosaurus and Triceratops with motorized

walking action. And Deinonychus, each with figures

and battle gear. Dino Riders. Wireless power.

Tri -cannons. Forward laser. Mandibles. Omni

-lasers. Bruton cannons. Buzzsaw. Omni -lasers.

Broadside rockets. Tri -laser. Questar. The evil

Rulons are tired of playing games. You are finished,

Questar. They want the Dino Riders' time key.

Your brother eats flies, Krulos. The greatest

battle in the history of the universe is about

to begin. Tyrannosaurus rex and Diplodocus with

motorized walking action and Monoclonius eats

with figures and battle gear. Dino Riders. I

was not expecting this to make this countdown,

but there was four series of Dino Riders toys

from the 1988 to the 1990 range period. They

had Series 1, 2, 3, and Ice Age, and they had

motorized walking actions with dinosaur heads

and things like that, and there was toys that

rode on the dinosaurs. Mike, did you have any

of these? I didn't. You and I are only a year

apart. You were seven. I was eight at that time.

And I was more into Transformers. I would rather

have my dinosaurs be robots than actual real

dinosaurs. No T -Rexes. Don't have feathers,

folks. And, yeah, I remember these, but also

I preferred the other, and hopefully that shows

up. I prefer dino saucers over dino riders. I

just did not care about dino riders. I could

care less. So maybe somebody else who's listening

to this, maybe they have a more positive memory.

Like, I remember seeing them. I remember my mom

taking me to the store. I chose... correct i

chose the other one instead of the dino riders

yeah and i was definitely still doing toys in

1988 i kind of misspoke there yeah you just weren't

doing yeah exactly like yeah i think the other

thing that happens though with kids is it seems

like every kid that i've ever known has a dinosaur

phase right and a phase where they're either

into dinosaur like dinosaur actual dinosaur toys

like figures Or they're into like a dinosaur

figure like this or dinosaurs or they're into

dinosaur movies like Land Before Time or, you

know, that type of thing. But I feel like every

kid has a dinosaur phase, but they hit at completely

different times. Like sometimes it's when they're

way like my daughter is three and she loves dinosaurs,

but she might not care about dinosaurs when she's

eight. You know what I mean? So it's like it

hits at a different time period. Like in my dinosaur

phase was way. earlier than this in my life like

i think i was like probably four or five when

i like dinosaurs so by the time 1988 rolls around

i was just doing other stuff and involved with

other other toy lines so this didn't hit for

me but it doesn't necessarily surprise me that

we have a dinosaur related toy in the countdown

somewhere or at least one if we don't get more

down the line steve what do you think of this

one i mean i definitely think that anything dinosaur

related getting on the top 100 is a win yeah

i actually do own i never owned any of these

as a kid i do own one of them now because i've

been trying to keep going with my hero and villain

collection so i i do have a couple of these figures

now to add to that the main i think i have the

main good guy i don't have the main villain yet

so they're really tiny guys it seems like compared

to some too but dino riders making the countdown

here at number 98 So it's interesting. We had

two action figures and we went to kind of more

of a general like universal thing with walkie

talkie back to action figures with dino riders.

Now we're going to go back to more of a universal

appeal with our number 97 entry, which is most

famously produced by a company called Wham -O.

And we are going to see Wham -O show up multiple

times in this countdown. It's not the people

that invented this item because this item has

probably been around since about 1957, but it

really took off in the late 90s, like 98. when

Wham -O kind of took over, and I'm talking about

the Frisbee. Want fun? Get Frisbee! It flies

through the air with the greatest of ease. Want

fun? Get Frisbee! It's the newest, fastest, most

flying fun under the sun. Frisbee is actually

a soft, round airfoil with gyro action. It flies

straight as an arrow, or bounces off a walk.

You can even run for a pass. Frisbee football.

Get mom and dad into the game. Frisbee is wonderful

family fun. Frisbee is a brand new kind of toy.

It's the sensational flying saucer that you command.

You can make it soar just like a bird. You can

throw it away and make it come right back like

a boomerang. You can even curve it around trees.

If you want fun, get Frisbee today. And remember,

if it doesn't say whammo, it isn't a Frisbee.

$1 wherever toys are sold. So the Frisbee comes

in at number 97, one of our outdoor category

toys. And I think this one works for me because

when I was making my list, I was thinking things

that were very universal or general. It didn't

have to be a niche audience. It didn't only appeal

to boys or only appeal to girls or only appeal

to certain age groups. I've seen all ages play

with Frisbees. Kids play with Frisbees. Adults

throw Frisbees in big yards or fields, different

things like that. They can be recreation. They

can be taken serious. So I think Frisbee has

a lot of different ways to be enjoyed and played

with. So I think it's a toy that kind of fits

a lot of different things. That's why I included

it in my countdown, so I'm fine with Frisbee

being on the list. I don't know if some people

will say 97 is too high or too low, but Steve,

what do you think? I mean, I ranked mine at 91

for this, so I'm pretty stinking close. But I

mean, they give, yes, they're knockoffs, but

they give Frisbees away at parades. They give

them away at... you know all kinds of events

it's just one of those things that universally

everybody knows what it is and what it does and

so they can double as a plate so yeah i mean

like in in kids play with them all the time to

get them stuck on the roof or you know i mean

just in general they're they're a fun toy i remember

a variation of this that my cousins had that

was like taking frisbee to the next level and

they called it i think it was called an arobi

and it was just like the ring with nothing in

the middle and it would go like 10 times farther

than a frisbee. I don't know why, but that thing

was crazy until you got it stuck in a tree. Mike,

what do you think about frisbee making our countdown?

You know, there is one little... We're talking

franchises here, bud. All you got to do is keep

your delivery to under 30 minutes. Let's see

what we got here. We got a... Pizza. Got that,

dude? Pizza. Frisbee. Also cool. Who frisbeed

me in the face? I'm out of here. I like it. I

think it's cool. Of course, the first thing I

hear, the term frisbee, all I can think of, and

say what people will about the third movie, all

I can think of is Mikey burning the pizza. Frisbee.

Also good. And he throws it at Donnie's head.

Oh, and I want to correct myself before the listeners

go crazy. I said 1998 when Wham -O made it popular.

I meant 1957. That's when Wham -O made it popular.

1937 is when it kind of first, like the first

flying disc happened. The reason I had 1998 in

my head is because Frisbee was a finalist for

the National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998. So I will

be mentioning some of the different things that

we have, whether they're in the Toy Hall of Fame

or whether they were at least a finalist. So,

so far, Frisbee is the first one we've mentioned

that was a finalist for the National Toy Hall

of Fame. And that happened in 1998. They have

not made it into the Hall of Fame yet. So, all

right, that's number 97. Let's move on to number

96. I guess you could say this is also somewhat

of a universal toy, although I can't do it. And

it's also a toy that came around in the 1950s,

was made popular. We're talking about the skateboard.

It all starts with a push. A push that starts

from nothing, yet leads to everything. Was that

okay? A push that goes from riding hills to backyard

pools to straight up walls. Pushing through skinned

knees and broken bones. Over cracked pavement,

busted ramps, and that single pebble. It's a

push that turns a 360 into a 720 into a 900.

We used to see ourselves as a family of misfits.

But now, the world will call us Olympians. So

the skateboard popularized in 1950, I think especially

in California at the time, and then kind of spread

throughout the rest of the country. Also a National

Toy Hall of Fame finalist in 2008, so that's

back -to -back finalists we're mentioning here.

I did not have skateboards on my list personally,

but that's just because out of that grouping,

like... of similar type of things which i'm not

going to mention them just in case they show

up later but there was other things within that

kind of universe that i thought were a little

more universal than even skateboards so i kind

of limited myself from like the outdoor wheel

type toy um so skateboards didn't make my countdown

but i totally get it like skateboards have been

around for a long time i never had one and never

learned how to skateboard but I know a lot of

people that did. So, Mike, what do you think

of skateboards? Is it top 100 worthy? Oh, it

definitely is top 100 worthy. But just like you,

different circumstances, obviously. I never had

one. I always wanted one. I always wanted to

learn. But with the scruple palsy and all that

stuff, it just was never. I could barely ride

a bike half the time. So, skateboard, that's

just like handing me a lit firecracker and closing

my palm around it or something. I mean, obviously,

there's skate parks all over the place. I think

almost every halfway decent -sized town seems

to always have a skate park somewhere. It's just

something that I always saw more on TV or in

the movies or something like that than in real

life. I didn't have a skate park anywhere near

us, and it's just not something that I was into

myself. But like I said, I totally get it. Steve,

are you the lone member of us that has ever been

on a skateboard? I've tried it. I've never...

been able to actually stay on it. Yeah. What

do you think about its top 100 worthiness? I

mean, I can see it because, I mean, there's still

skate parks popping up all over the place, even

here. So, I mean, I can see the validity of it

being there. I just personally don't have an

affinity for it, so it's not on my list. I like

watching people do it more than me trying to

do it myself. Like, look, we can't have the top

100 and have Skateboard appear and not mention

Tony Hawk or any of the other skaters that we've

ever watched in the last 20 or 30 years. Or the

dozens and dozens and maybe hundreds of videos

that we've probably all watched with just full

of Skateboard people crashing or biffing. Totally

damaging themselves on tricks and things of that

nature. That's almost more entertaining than

watching somebody actually complete the jumps

and the tricks. Alright, we're going to kind

of stay in that outdoor realms and kind of more

of that universal thing. I think this was more,

even a bigger fad though, once upon a time. Also

somewhat originated in the 1950s. Also from had

a really popular run with Wham -O. I'm not saying

that they invented this item, but they had a

popular line of them. It was also a National

Toy Hall of Fame finalist in 1999. And this is

the hula hoop. Hey, the amazing U63. Whammo hula

hoops are here. Just give it a spin and do lots

of tricks. Round the necks called kill the buzzard.

Round your waist, the natural. Slip it way down

and do the knee knocker. It's easy to do the

stork. Play war. See who can knock the hoop down

first. The winner. It's fun to skip with your

Wham -O -Hula -Hoop. Throw it away and it boomerangs

right back. Flip it up and do Kill the Buzzard.

It's easy, it's fun to keep them spinning round

and round. They defy gravity. Do all the new

dances with the Wham -O -Hula -Hoop. Quick now,

run through your Hula -Hoop. Even play giant

horseshoes. Become a Hula -Hoop expert. Do the

amazing Upsy -Daisy. It'll climb like magic.

Win your big neighborhood contest. Everybody's

playing with the new Wham -O -Hula -Hoop. Buy

yours today at all toy, drug, and department

stores. Get one, get two, get more. So obviously

the 50s, that's like an iconic thing during the

50s is the hula hoop. So I think hula hoop and

frisbee to me have to be on this countdown somewhere.

So I voted for this and I have no problem with

it being where it is. What do you think, Mike?

Same thing. I have no problem. But at the same

time... I'm so not coordinated for a hula hoop.

I know it's just swinging your hips like you're

dancing in the 50s and all that, but nope. Steve,

what do you think about hula hoop, frisbee, skateboards,

and those three kind of coming back to back?

I mean, I can see this being on the list. I don't

have it on my list, but I can see it being on

the list just because it's another one of those

iconic things that have been around since forever.

And it's just funny, I was on Wham -O's website

just kind of... perusing different things that

they own their rights to now maybe not created

but at least own it now uh and they own frisbee

and hula hoop yep so whammo making a impact here

one thing that we haven't had yet on the countdown

mike would you like to take a guess what category

we haven't featured yet board games or card games

all right board games let's go to one of those

So our number 94 is our first entrance into the

board game category. This one became a thing

in 1965 from a company called Irwin Toys, currently

owned by Hasbro. But we're talking about the

game of Trouble. So one of the pop -o -matic

games where you had the dice inside the little

bubble that you could pop. I remember having

this, and I remember there was travel versions

and things like this. I didn't spend a ton of

time playing Trouble. And for me, it didn't make

my list only because I restricted how many board

games I could vote for, and so only certain board

games got my vote. But Trouble is one of those

universally loved, I think. board games but where

do you in the realm of board games do you think

it's worthy enough to make our top 100 steve

i think it's worthy i don't know like again that's

another one of those ones i i enjoy it but i

don't enjoy it enough to put it on my list because

to me it's not replayable enough right uh but

but i a lot of these and i feel like this is

going to be the case with a lot of the board

games that pop up they're iconic in their own

right but love differently. Yeah. I think it

does have the uniqueness of that. It does. You

know, where I think there was a handful of games

that did that. And this would be the one out

of those that does deserve to be on there. Yeah.

Yeah. Mike, what are your thoughts on the game

of trouble? I played Trouble all the damn time.

My cousins, my aunts, my uncles, my grandmother,

everybody was getting in trouble. Because, again,

you want to talk about something that's different,

that isn't a card game, that isn't just, here's

the game of life. It was different because of

that pop -up thing and you couldn't reach the

dice because the dice was under the thing and

whatever else. It was fun. It was awesome. Yeah,

I love trouble. And just for the record, for

anybody that wants to know, there are other ties

that are happening on this countdown. I'm not

pointing all of them out. I'm just giving it

in the order that they would have fallen. There's

a lot of toys or a lot of ties in today's episode.

So this is part of a three -way tie, but it was

the loser out of the three. Well, I mean, the

thing is, is this is the bottom 10 or the bottom

whatever. Like right now, as we're speaking,

like numbers 101 to 90, like it's the bottom

10. You're going to get a lot of things in here

that, yes, they deserve to be on the list. Yeah,

it's easier to have. I'd rather have a tie here

than a tie at number 50 or number 25 or number

one. God, we've never had that. Thank God we've

never. We would be canceled if we had that. All

right. So number 93, we're going to go back outside

and we're going to go to back to something that

has wheels and they're very powerful. Come on,

let's go. Sitting tall in my power wheel star

of the show. Power wheels, power wheels. Now

I'm driving for real. They got real live motors,

got a grown up feel in my power wheels. I'm driving

for real. Power wheels, power wheels, power wheels.

King of the road. The real power wheels, each

sold separately. What a way to go. So we're going

to power wheels here. They became a thing basically

in 1984, even though they. been around since

the 1940s i believe italy might get credit for

like the introduction in 1949 ish but mattel

kind of brought them onto the scene in the u

.s in 1984 i i there was always this thing i

think you know between power wheels and big wheels

and things of that nature i never had any of

them but what for me what i remember i don't

since i didn't have one and none of my friends

had them either To me, it was the commercial

and the jingle power wheels or whatever it was

like. That's what I remember about power wheels.

I remember the commercials. So I did vote for

power wheels. I don't I didn't have it very high

at all. I think I made it probably in this section

of the countdown somewhere. So I get it because

it was the big commercial. It was the thing that

a lot of people wish they had or wanted, but

most of us couldn't afford or didn't have. So

we had lived vicariously through the commercial

and seeing people and they had all kinds of different

versions. They had like Barbie and. All kinds

of, like, I'm sure there was a, I don't know,

He -Man or G .I. Joe or Transformers version

or something like that. But, Mike, what are your

thoughts on Power Wheels? I don't really remember

the commercial. I do not remember having one

of these at all. But I always thought they were

really cool. For the record, my daughter has

one. It's a little Minnie Mouse one. she isn't

super into it she she loved it when she got it

and she'll ride it for like a couple seconds

and then she wants to get off because i think

it scares her at this point because she doesn't

know how to drive but the only place for her

to really ride it is in our like courtyard area

which has a pool in the middle so we don't want

her driving it into the pool so it's uh she hasn't

got to enjoy it to its full potential yet but

she definitely does have a little mini mouse

power wheel steve what do you think about power

wheels It's one of those things that I didn't

have as a kid, but I always wanted. And then

when I got older, I was like, yeah, I like the

idea, but I'm going to get a real car. And so,

one, they were insanely expensive. Two, I used

to hear about the batteries having issues all

the time and power sluggishness. And what's funny

is a few years ago, I think somebody was just

getting rid of it, and they just gave it to us.

I've noticed a lot out, especially out here in

Colorado, people just throw stuff out. They can't

sell it, so they'll throw it on their trash bin,

or they'll be like, hey, do you want it? So my

kid ended up with one at one point, and it worked

good for a time. but I felt like they just didn't

care after a while. I mean, he figured out how

to drive it after running into everything under

the sun, but it was just massively underpowered,

and so he didn't really care for it very long.

I feel like a go -kart had a better run with

my kids than the Power Wheels, but I at least

was able to live vicariously through the kid

as they played with it, knowing that I'd wanted

one as a kid. Right. I think it's just way more.

There's way more kids these days that probably

have them or have experienced them than in the

80s when it was like, I don't know how expensive

they were, but they just seemed like they were

too expensive for the average family. At least

that's my recollection of it. Something that's

not expensive for the average family. And, you

know, we talked about Frisbee being like a universal

toy. I don't think it gets much more. There may

be a couple that could be more universal, but

our number 92 has been around since like the

fifth century. And I think you can give China

the credit for maybe inventing this, but it's

a really hard history to trace back. We're going

to go to our number 92 entrant, the kite. Look,

there's Kite Man! Wait a minute! Is a safe kite

made of metal ever? Never! Wire or wet string

ever? Never! Do you stay away from streets, antennas,

and power lines? All the time! What about frogs?

I like frogs. What if your kite winds around

a power line? Call the kite man! At Pacific Power.

So, the kite, which made the, and I misspoke

before, the Frisbee is in the National Toy Hall

of Fame in 1998. Skateboards is in the National

Toy Hall of Fame 2008. hula hoop made it in 1999

kite made it in 2007 so we've had four toys that

are in the national hall of fame i had one of

my columns mischecked but uh so kite kite in

the fifth you know around for thousands of years

it seems like and you know you don't need money

you don't you you can make a kite almost just

about anything you just need a little wind so

i think it makes total sense for the kite had

a kite in their hands at least once in their

life like it's just you might not do it all the

time but you've probably flown a kite at least

once and there's a lot of different variations

of it different styles different designs different

ways to do it so it's not like my favorite toy

to play with but it's a toy i have played with

and i feel like that's the majority of human

kind so i think kite definitely deserves to be

on here what do you think mike yeah absolutely

it's it's something that is universal it's something

that everyone knows it's like you said something

that person has done at least one time in their

life kind of thing oh yeah steve kite worthy

of top oh yeah i mean even if you're not very

good at it it's still something that everybody

has done at least once and my kids are pretty

excited somebody uh we had over for dinner a

kite and with the wind out here in Colorado it'll

fly but yeah and the funny thing is they're looking

forward to it and so I'll get to rediscover the

pains and the joys of using a kite all over again

it's like kite and frisbee have more than one

thing in common and one of those things is getting

stuck in trees or stuck in something on a roof

or whatever the case may be so We're going to

go from the kite to something that could not

be more opposite of the kite or number 91. We're

also going to make our first entry into the world

of electronics. So from kite, which you need

nothing electronic for, you just need some wind

to something you need all kinds of gadgets and

gadgets and gizmos for. We're talking about the

Xbox, our number 91 entrance. The Xbox made its

foray into the world in 2001 from Microsoft.

joining the video game wars between Nintendo

and PlayStation, so we had Xbox here. Mike, out

of the video game consoles, is this one worthy

of being in the top 100? Did you vote for it,

or what do you think about it? I did not vote

for it for one simple reason. The original Xbox

controller is too damn big. It's trash. The original...

Yeah, that original controller was trash. So

I have cerebral palsy. Most people that have

heard our podcast before know this. I cannot

use, I do not have functionality in my right

hand. I taught myself in 1985 and 86 to play

video games one -handed with the NES controller

or the Super Nintendo controller, all that stuff.

And controllers over the years had been getting

bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, and

then Xbox dropped this brick of a controller.

I can't even... There's a picture. I'll probably

have it in the post because that's where this

video game system is, is whatever. But basically

I take, let's say the super Nintendo controller.

I put the controller in my palm. I use my index

and middle finger for the D pad and I use my

thumb for all the buttons. That's how I've been

able to play video games my whole life. And the

Xbox controller is like an Island. No, I don't

care. Yeah, it was, I only had room for a certain

video game. related things on my countdown and

xbox did not make the cut for me i get it's like

one of the major three that kind of took the

world by storm in the 2000s you know obviously

nintendo and playstation started a little before

that but you know by the time xbox came out it

was you know video games were dominating the

world it seemed like and uh so i get it but xbox

didn't quite make the cut for me um but i'm willing

to hear arguments either way steve what do you

think about the xbox i listed that in my top

10 Because after the initial Xbox, which I did

play, I didn't own it. The first Xbox I owned

was the 360, and then I had the Xbox One. And

then after that, I just went straight PC gaming

again. But I really liked the 360 controller

to the point I still use it on my computer when

I play certain games. It's honestly like I feel

like that's where Xbox really started battling

PlayStation and Nintendo. I feel like the entry

was just enough to knock Sega out. But I feel

like they didn't really hit their stride until

the 360 and so I feel like that there's still

a strong contender with PlayStation and with

Sony and with Nintendo, but yeah. I mean, I can

see why some would go for it or against it. Yeah,

it's definitely being in the conversation. Yeah,

absolutely. It deserves to be in the conversation.

It's one of those things where now it's like,

honestly, worldwide video game systems, there

are... There's multiple versions of the Xbox.

There's multiple versions of whichever PlayStation

number is currently out. Right now it's the 5.

And then there's all the Nintendo consoles. That's

it. Three consoles. Right. We don't have... I'm

going to say this, and I highly doubt this is

going to show up any higher. than where we are

right now. We don't have a ColecoVision, or we

don't have a this or a that, or an Intellivision,

or whatever. Like, back in the 80s, when video

games kind of first hit the scene, everybody

was trying to make the best one that they could.

Nintendo hit it out of the park. Sega, eh, Master

System, ugh, I hated that damn thing. I made

the wrong choice, damn it. And then, obviously,

Sega went better with the Genesis versus Super

Nintendo, and like we already said, PlayStation,

blah, blah, blah. But, yeah, Microsoft hit the

ground running with the first Xbox, and like

Steve said, basically improved upon it with the

360, and they've been improving upon it ever

since. I'm still a soft spot for Intellivision.

I know you do. That's what I said. Let's go from

something that you need controllers and games

and electricity to something that you need your

finger and maybe sand to play. You also could

do it on a board. There's so many different ways

that you can play the game of Tic -Tac -Toe.

Never before has the Battle of X's and O's been

waged on such a vast and intense scale. Introducing

the new electronic game of Tic -Tac -Total. Totally

extreme. More fun, more fight, and lots more

ways to score. Just slap down and light up. Three

in a row. Four in a row. even five in a row and

the game automatically tic -tac totals up your

score he who scores more wins the war battle

your friends or the computer with tic -tac total

so tic -tac -toe is going to be our number 90

maybe originates somewhere around 1300 bc It

has been a National Toy Hall of Fame finalist.

Like I said, you could play this on the beach.

Just drop a board in the sand and do your X's

and your O's. You can do it with beanbags that

you're throwing at a board. There's so many different

versions of Tic -Tac -Toe. It seems like it's

constantly being reinvented, I guess, because

it's such a simple premise. The game, everybody

knows you can do this anywhere. If you have a

piece of paper and a pen, you have your finger

in sand. There's many ways you can do this. So

I voted for this. I just think it's so universal.

It's something that you can play at a very young

age. It's not going to maybe be a ton of fun

as you get older, but it's something, as an older

person, you can play with a younger person, and

it's a lot of fun for them. So I think Tic -Tac

-Toe definitely deserves it, so I have no problem

with it being here at number 90. Steve, what

do you think about the game Tic -Tac -Toe? I

don't have it on my personal list, but it does

have notoriety as one of those games you can

play anywhere with anything. right it's like

hangman almost yeah um mike what do you what

do you think about tic -tac -toe yeah i love

tic -tac -toe it was always fun to play it as

a kid it was even more fun to watch the hollywood

squares play it though Yeah, there's been game

shows about it, all kinds of stuff. Those totals

mean nothing now. We're back to square one, okay?

Even playing field. And it's tic -tac -toe. You

guys decide whether the answers the stars are

giving are correct or they're just making them

up. That's how you get the squares. Who won the

coin toss backstage? All right, Evan, you start.

As we move into our 80s, you know, we're getting

into number 89 next. It's going to be interesting

because there was one thing that I considered

when making my list, and that is, like, toys

that were fads. So we kind of talked about how

Hula Hoop was kind of a fad, but there was other

toys that came around post that time period.

We're talking about probably from the 1980s to

present day where there's a toy that becomes

the it thing. It is the toy that everybody has

to buy. You know you've seen footage on different

documentaries or highlight reels or whatever

of people going mad at the stores for this toy

or that toy. it's interesting to see how the

voters handled those toys. Cause there's been

a number of them over the years, you know, dozens

that have been like the toy for that year. Like,

especially working in the retail world, working

at target, like it was very interesting to see

which toys all of a sudden became like popular

with the moms. That was like everybody, all the

moms had to get this. I don't know if Oprah was

telling them or what, but it was like, Oh, this

is the toy for this season. I get it. So we're

going to have one of those at number 89. I had

like three or four of these like fad, what I'm

calling fad toys that I voted because of how

crazy the fad was. It wasn't just that it was

a fad for like that year, but how intense it

was. So I think this totally represents that

what we have here at number 89, which is a toy

that came out in 1996 and was all the rage from

Tycho. We're talking about Tickle Me Elmo. Watch

out. There's something funny going on. It's new

Tickle Me Elmo. Your child tickles Elmo and he

talks. And laughs. Tickle him again and hold

on because his whole body shakes with laughter.

Oh, boy. So be on the lookout. He's coming to

a funny bone near you. Tickle Me Elmo. The newest

huggable member of the Tyco Sesame Street family.

So Sesame Street and Tyco making a joint venture

here with the Tickle Me Elmo that came out in

1996. It went bananas. This is actually a Toy

Hall of Fame finalist as well, so it made that

much of an impact. My daughter has one. I don't

know if she loves it or not, but she has one

just because I figured I had to give her one.

But Tickle Me Elmo, Steve, what do you think?

I definitely think, I mean, with the craze that

went over that thing, it definitely deserves

to be on the list. How else are we going to get

Sesame Street represented on the list? My kid

even had one for a short time. All of these different

Elmos, though, are pretty much timeless ways

of recognizing Sesame Street. Absolutely. Mike,

what do you think about the Tickle Me Elmo? Oh,

man. How best to say this? Don't wait till you

get home. Shoot him now. Shoot him now. God.

It's better than the Teletubbies. Don't even

get me started. It's more about the fat of it

that I say that than the actual toy itself. Toy

itself for kids at that time in 1996, 1997, 1998.

That was great. Obviously, I was aged out of

that because I was 16, 17, and 18 at that point

in time, and I was doing a whole bunch of other

crazy crap and whatever else. But it was nice

to see, because again, I know we've had some

Sesame Street stuff over the years. I don't think

there was specific actual action. Sesame Street

kind of falls into that all range of either it's

a doll or it's a puppet or it's a this or it's

a that. It's not a... PVC figure or whatever

kind of thing. And taking away the whole fad

aspect of it, Tickle Me Elmo was great. It was

hilarious. It got kids to engage. It got young,

you know, it got the whatever demographic they

were shooting for to play with the dang thing

and it made Elmo even more popular than he already

was. Absolutely. Alright, it's going to be interesting

to track that and the different fads that have

happened, which ones make the countdown, which

ones don't. But we'll keep track of that as we

go. We're going to go back to the world of board

games for number 88. So we've had, well, what

did we had so far? We had trouble and we had

tic -tac -toe. I'm going to go to a little bit

of more advanced board game here. Probably. I

love this game. It didn't make my countdown,

but I love it. This one came around in 1957 from

Parker brothers. I guess it originated in France.

Hasbro now owns it. It was a toy hall of fame.

in 2021. So it just recently became a member

of the National Toy Hall of Fame. We're talking

about the game Risk. So this is the game of global

domination here, Risk. I love this game. I could

never find enough of my friends that wanted to

play it. But with family get -togethers and things

like that, we would always play it, and I truly

think this is a great game. I, for some reason,

didn't vote for it, though, but that's, again,

because I only had so many board games I was

allowing in, and there was other factors that

I tried to make it, not just personal ones that

I like. But I love the game of Risk, so I'm fine

with making it here, even if I didn't vote for

it. Steve, what do you think of the game of Risk?

It wasn't my jam, but I knew a ton of people

that played it. Yeah. It was like a precursor

to a lot of the stuff that I see that has come

since in more advanced ways and much more crazy

strategies and things like that. That genre became

something completely different in the years later.

I know it was in 1957, but even during our childhood,

it was still kind of a unique thing, but really

in the 90s and then especially since then. games

like this have become a whole different like

an entire industry of in in and of itself um

but risk kind of predated that craze mike what

do you think of the game of risk i like it never

really played too much of it i played it every

now and then but it was never again never really

my thing as far as board games and at the time

then it got really popular that it was making

a comeback or whatever you want to say about

it in the mid to late 90s I was already out of

board games. So no, it deserves to be here. Definitely.

Oh, that's a weird. When you're awarded the state

of Kentucky and go through 15 different placement.

Yeah. I was out of board games at that point.

Yeah. All right. Well, we're going to move on

to another one. That's a interesting, this is

kind of just making like a miscellaneous, like

games category, I think is what we placed it

in because otherwise it really doesn't have a

spot. within something else i'm hoping that you

guys can talk i think steve might be able to

talk about this and i'm totally guessing but

just based on the timeline because this is something

that has been around for actually a long time

but was really made popular in the 1990s it like

came it like became a new thing again originally

it might have been called something like milk

caps but we knew it in the 90s as pogs The Powers

of Greyskull series has covered every episode

of all of the Masters of the Universe cartoons

except for two. Join Optimus Solo and TFG and

Mike as they tell tales of Eternia, discover

the myths of Etheria, become Masters in Space,

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power and for the honor of Grayskull we all have

the power Amen! The little circular discs that

had all kinds of different... designs logos and

things of that nature it became like a national

turn like i think there was like worldwide or

national tournaments of these things or something

i never really knew much about it besides that

i knew my friends and some people that i knew

that would like collect them i didn't see a whole

lot of people actually playing the game did you

guys ever have any um interaction with pogs mike

I never played the game. I just collected them

because they were cool at the time. Again. Did

you have specific ones that you collected? Yeah,

like the He -Man ones or the this ones. Whichever

ones that came out that were characters that

I liked, I found a way to get them. Yeah. Steve,

this was a little bit more in your timeline as

far as when you were growing up. Was Pogs a thing

where you were? Oh, yeah. Totally. We used to

trade them. We used to... I had the Pog Maker.

I had the Slammers, like a bunch of them. I had...

I want to say I had Transformer ones. I had Power

Ranger ones, Star Trek. I made a bunch of Pogs

just based off stuff I printed and you could

have it stamped onto stuff. uh so i used to make

quite a few of them that i didn't have and with

you know the advent of the internet and just

stuff that you know you could find printed on

things uh i do remember the whole idea of the

slammer or whatever oh yeah like the thing yeah

because you would you would make like a i forget

how it was played but i want to say there were

like little pog towers or different pogs and

you would hit it with the slammer And then the

concept was if certain ones fell on your side

or did something, then you won. Again, I could

be totally butchering this, but I was not one

of those ones that liked to give up my stuff,

so I never played it competitively. If I was

doing a trade, it was always advantageous for

me. But for the most part, I think I just collected

them because it was something cool to look at.

I think I enjoyed making them more than buying

them. This is another one that maybe not like

the fad like we saw with Tickle Me Elmo where

it was a toy that took over the season, but it

was definitely a fad as far as a wide population

of children that were into it at once. So it

wasn't necessarily something that moms were breaking

down the Target or Walmart Kmart doors to get,

but it was something that was very popular within

a certain group of kids. I don't know if you

guys experienced this or not. I know I read and

I can't remember if this happened at our school

or not, that a lot of schools were actually banning

them or basically make it because it was like

they considered it a form of like gambling because

you were trading and like doing different things

or because it was just becoming. a distraction

at school. Yeah, it was totally a distraction.

They would actually take them if they caught

us. Yeah, it was interesting how that works.

I don't think it was because of the gambling

aspect of it, but it was... It was the trading.

Yeah, it was distracting. What they said was

a little bit like gambling or something because

you would bet stuff on... Well, we used to...

I mean, they used to do that with us with magic

cards, so... Yeah. Very similar. That's our number

87. Go ahead. I was going to say really quickly

because I looked it up. As far as the gameplay,

With the slammer and whatever. The players take

turns throwing the slammer down onto the top

of the stack of milk caps, as it's called here,

instead of pugs, causing it to spring up and

the milk caps to scatter. Each player keeps any

milk caps that have flipped over. So I guess

flip over reveal. Yeah, absolutely. But they

were better to collect than they were to play

the actual game. Yeah. Number 86, we're going

to go back into the world of board games. This

is another National Toy Hall of Fame finalist.

Has not made it in yet, though. Came about in

about 1934 from Parker Brothers, currently owned

by Hasbro. It was a United States and a UK kind

of venture where kind of developed in both areas.

Monopoly. Or co -country areas. And we're going

to one that I think is a little bit more universal

than Risk, so I understand why it's higher. This

one for me is more like... almost like tic -tac

-toe and trouble where it can be played with

any age group and we definitely played this a

ton growing up and this is the game sorry class

always proceed in an orderly fashion always remember

to forgive and forget the game of sorry slide

switch and bump your way home before someone

makes you send you back never bump push or cut

in line sorry do we understand one another sorry

anyone sorry so i i think this one's just like

it's a rite of passage like you have to play

this as a child so it's like i don't know kind

of in the same realm of like chutes and ladders

or or something of that nature where it's just

you're just rolling dice and moving a piece and

like sometimes good things happen and sometimes

bad thing happens like it's a standard board

game mechanics there but for some reason this

was one that our family played a lot so i for

some reason i still didn't vote for it again

i'm gonna have to go back and check which board

games i voted for because it hasn't been um it

wasn't trouble it wasn't risk and i wasn't sorry

but i see the point why all three of them would

be on the countdown so mike what do you think

of the game sorry right steve you think i paid

and not have to watch the damn commercials now

did you ever play the game sorry oh yeah we've

played it with our kids and my my kids get so

mad Because my wife and I know how to play it

and we're like, oh, sorry. And then we're like,

you're not sorry, you're mean. And they want

to chuck the game and it's like, no, that's the

whole point of the game. And they're like, it's

not right. And we're like, eh, it's hilarious.

So sorry, it's going to be an interesting debate

on if we get the order of these board games right

or which ones appeared and which ones didn't

appear and all that kind of stuff. It'll be like

a whole side debate that people can get into.

So moving into our number 85, I guess we already

had, this category breached with tickle me elmo

as far as like stuffed things so that's where

we're going to for our number 85 which was also

introduced mike you'll like this in 1985 so 85

1985 from the worlds of wonder i believe is the

company that originally brought it out i believe

from my research it's now owned by wicked cool

toys and I didn't have one of these, but I did

have a cousin that had one of these, and I remember

thinking it was very cool, and obviously I remember

some other things. They had a cartoon and some

other stuff, but we're talking about Teddy Ruxpin

here for number 85. The stuff there that you

could put tapes in, and it would read stories

and things of that nature. Show and tell time.

Another teddy bear? My teddy's name is Teddy

Ruxpin. He talks, he tells stories. Hi, my name

is Teddy Ruxpin. Can you and I be friends? I

really enjoy talking to people. I would like...

Teddy Ruxpin, the storytelling bear, comes with

illustrated book and cassette from Worlds of

Wonder. Unless it didn't work right and then

it sounded like the devil was inside. I had two

of those things, man. And my parents... The first

one broke. They bought me a second one. And then

I had... I want to say... I don't know if it

went to the Teddy Ruxpin, but they had Ninja

Turtle tapes with books that would read to you.

And I would put it in him and have him read it

as the characters. So it was hilarious. I just

know when it was dying or when something was

going wrong with it. but teddy ruxpin it was

maybe was not like a fad as much as like tickle

me elmo was but it was definitely something that

was popular for a specific amount of years and

i have i didn't vote for it but i have no problem

with it being here on our countdown mike what

do you think yeah same i actually had one of

these damn things and i can vouch for the fact

that if Technical difficulties. Let's move on,

shall we? I still remember how difficult it was

to even try to get the tape recorder fixed. You

couldn't get it fixed. That was their point,

for you to buy a new one. Availability, 85 to

2019. Wow, I didn't know it was around for that

long. I don't know where you could have got it.

I haven't seen it in stores forever. I saw them

a number of years ago. They had them with digital

eyes. And you could plug in MP3s or something

to them. So from the original run, 85 to 90,

was Worlds of Wonder. 91 to 96 was Hasbro. Yes,

Entertainment had it from 88 to 89. Backpack

Toys had it from 05 to 2010. And then Wicked

Cool Toys had it from 2017 to 2019. So it is

no more? Yeah, pretty much, as far as I can tell.

Poor Teddy Ruxpin. Yep. All right, let's move

on. I can't believe these two are back -to -back

as well. But we're going to go on that I did

vote for. And this was a toy National Hall of

Fame final, or it made it an inductee in 1998.

This one's been around since about 1900. You

can't put a specific date because there's multiple

people that claim that they invented this. But

I don't know if you can really pinpoint that.

There was multiple patents that were being issued

around the same time in the 1900 to 1909 -ish

era. We went from Teddy Ruxpin to the teddy bear.

So the reason I voted for this was because I

was using this kind of as a placeholder for just

stuffed animals in general. Like the teddy bear

is probably one of the most famous generic stuffed

animals. And I think every kid has stuffed animals.

So that's kind of why the rationale I use to

vote for the teddy bear. I think a teddy bear

is just one of the most common of those stuffed

animals. Obviously, there's a million different

stuffed animals, but I just think. teddy bear

kind of represents that whole group so that's

why i voted for it um and i'm fine with it obviously

making the list since i voted for it but uh mike

what do you think of the teddy bear yeah i agree

i had a favorite animal growing up i had a dark

gray slash black elephant with like pinkish eyes

and a beard under color under his trunk um I

forget what that thing used to do. It made some

sort of noise. But yeah, teddy bears are great.

That sounds scary. Steve, what do you think of

the teddy bear? I agree with that, and I still

have one. In a tote from my childhood, I think

the thing is six months older than I am or six

months younger than I am. You can still find

them on eBay. found kind of interesting yeah

i still have a whole tote of some of mine too

and i've taken some like maybe i don't know three

of them or something that were in real good shape

and like they're in my daughter's room and she

has them now so that was kind of cool yeah mine's

mine's in a tote in my office actually funny

enough like just that's where it ended up so

for number 83 it's going to be maybe painfully

evident as we make our way through the countdown

that we had a majority of our contributors were

male So there's a lack of maybe some female representation

that we may or may not see. And I think it's

good that we're seeing this one because I think

this is something that maybe at times gets voted

on maybe more from the female audience. So our

number 83, there's no way you can put a date

on this one as far as origins go because it's

probably been around since forever almost. And

this is just the generic idea of dress up, dress

up kits, dress up clothing, things of that nature.

Like my daughter has like these bins in her room

where her toys are. And like one of her bins

is just strictly dress up stuff like it's hats,

it's scarves, it's tiaras, it's necklaces, it's

rings, it's things of that nature. So and there

was some more formal like dress up kits like

you could have gone and bought one that was like.

a specific thing like a doctor dress -up kit

or like a police officer dress -up kit or whatever

it might be so these have been around just since

as long as like clothes or different things like

that have been around basically dressing up like

something else so i think it definitely fits

on the list it made my list i think i had it

in the 90s somewhere but uh dress -up kits is

just kind of a a thing that all kids at some

point play dress -up especially girls so steve

what do you think about the dress -up kit i'm

fine with that like for the most part when i

think about it like just dressing up in costumes,

dressing up in whatever. My boys have astronaut

costumes, police, firefighters, jungle, all different

kinds of stuff. Technically, that even counts

as early cosplay for the most part. I have a

Star Trek uniform. I like it. Early on, I had

cowboy stuff. I had the little gun that you could

put in your holster on your side. I don't know

if it was some form of chaps or something like

that. Probably. I had a whole cowboy getup with

a cowboy hat and everything, the vest. Mike,

what about you? Any dress -up stuff that you

ever had? Not really. My old cousins had that

kind of stuff. Me and my cousin Robbie, we didn't

really get into all that. What do you think of

it being on the list? Oh, yeah, no, it just definitely

deserves to be on the list because a lot of people

have like, you know, Steve said, a lot of people

have done it and still do it to this day kind

of thing. So, yeah, absolutely. All right. So

dress up kits takes our number 83. We're getting

close to the end here. Only what? One, two, three,

four, five, six, seven more today. So for our

number 82, we're going back to the world of board

games. And I think this one for me made my list

because it seems to be one of those. that was

universally enjoyed by a certain age group. It

represents the child board game to me perfectly.

It seems like all the very young children played

this game at one time or another, compared to

Risk, which was probably more of an adult or

a teenage game. So I think this one represents

that early child sector better. It came out in

1978 for Milton Bradley, and that is the game

Hungry Hungry Hippos. Hungry, hungry hippos!

I just think this is one that is just like iconic

for kids. It wasn't one that I necessarily played

that much, but it seems like it was just like

the one that was like for a certain age group

that always was very popular. The commercials

I remember for sure. And it's just an interesting

concept. So I have no problem with Hungry Hungry

Hippos being here at number 82. Mike, what do

you think? I think it should be like 10 higher.

This game was awesome. You talk about families

fighting over Monopoly stuff, playing Monopoly,

and I don't know where that's going to show up

on this countdown, if it even will. Hungry Hungry

Hippos, that is a game for psycho children. Just

sitting there whacking the thing, whacking the

thing, whacking the... Gotta eat those things.

Yeah, you gotta eat those balls. You gotta have

them hippos eat those balls or whatever the hell

they were. Hungry Hungry Hippos was awesome.

Steve, what do you think of Hungry Hungry Hippos?

I mean, I get it. And it was iconic for the time.

I didn't have it. I don't have it. I had friends

that had it. But that, I mean, I can see it just

because, again, a lot of these things that we're

bringing up on this record, even this early on,

were pretty heavily in the kids' viewpoint and

commercials and plastered everywhere. So they're

all resonating. Totally, totally. So board games

dominating this section of the countdown so far.

Let's see if action figures will make a comeback

here with number 81. We are going back to the

world of action figures. We've had wrestling

figures. We've had starting lineup figures. We've

had dino riders. How about, Steve, you'll enjoy

this one. How about some Star Trek action figures?

So, number 81 is our Star Trek action figures,

which I believe first made an appearance around

1974 with a company called Meggo. There's been

a lot of different lines since then. Obviously,

there's been tons of different Star Trek series

and movies, and it seems like companies have

always had a line that associates with that.

So, there's been a lot of different versions.

15 to 20 star trek action figures in a tote somewhere

that i've gotten like i never had them as a kid

but that i've gotten at like retro toy stores

that were oh yeah here and there or yard sales

that were really cheap so i've picked up some

here and there but Steve, you're obviously a

very much a fan of the Star Trek franchise. So

what do you think of the Star Trek action figures?

How were they in comparison to a lot of other

action figures? And are you happy that they're

on the countdown or sad that they're number 81?

I'm sad that they're at number 81. However, the

Mago stuff was not that great. And then there

were, I think there was like some bendy ones

they had at one point, just like Star Wars. They

had some other, a lot of them just looked like

crap until Playmates got a hold of it. And Playmates

took it, knocked it out of the park until the

Star Trek 2009 came out. And I think they lost

the license at that point. Then it just was all

over the place with other companies, Toy Asylum,

McFarlane. And there's still some other companies

that are doing them even now. But Playmates has

recently gotten the rights back over the last

year or two. And I have to say, the quality of

the figures from back then to now is starkly

different. The stuff from back then, I felt like

looked... more like the actors, more like the

characters. They used more of a gloss. They put

more work into it back then. The stuff that's

coming out now, unless it's a reproduction of

something like the phaser or the communicator

with new sound effects or lights or whatever,

because those, I've seen them, they're the same

cost as the originals that came out in the early

90s. They are pretty much the same, but the action

figures themselves are a smidge shorter, a smidge

thinner. They put flat paint on it, and they

feel very rubbery and cheap. But they cost, depending

on the store, they're about the same as what

they used to cost. And Playmates has done that

with Turtles, too. They cost about what they

used to cost, which is nice. But they're succumbing

to the cheapness factor that... All the other

toy companies have had to hit at some point.

So while I'm excited for Star Trek to hit here,

they don't exactly have a great track record

since the 90s run of the toys. I think what bugged

me about the Star Trek figures was the accessories

just being one color. I don't know which line

was that it was, but it was like, here's a backpack

and here's a phaser and here's this, but they're

all orange. And there's no detail to it. I don't

know which line that was, but it kind of bugged

me a little bit. I miss their stuff, though,

because Playmates was the only company that seemed

to make the bridge or make the transporter room

or make all these accessory locations or vessels

like the shuttlecrafts and things that they could

actually go in. Whereas a lot of companies...

didn't tend to do that right you had to kind

of create it yourself but i mean now we're in

an age of 3d printing so i mean if it doesn't

exist somebody will make it that is for sure

mike any thoughts on star trek he means to say

if it doesn't exist steve will make it i was

never a star trek kid when it came to the toys

and i was really like put off by them because

one of My mom's boyfriends or ex -boyfriends

or whatever, he had a huge Star Trek collection.

And he was like, don't touch them. They need

to stay in the box. They need to hold their...

And this was in the mid to late 80s. And I'm

like, okay. Hey, Boomer, you got it. Oh, gee.

Yeah, and all I can think of is the episode of

The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon breaks his figure,

he steals Leonard's, and then Leonard Nimoy comes

in as fuck. Oh, no. They sent the wrong Spock.

Live long and suck it, Zachary Quinto. I didn't

think of. Oh, my. Yep. All right. Well, we have

five toys left to reveal today. Before we do

that, we're going to take a break. But stay tuned,

because when we come back from the break, we're

going to have a shocking entrant, to me at least,

at number 80. I can't believe this made the countdown.

Our action figures have arrived. It's the best

$500 I've ever spent. A thousand dollars on action

figures? How can you afford that? Easy. His family's

loaded and Bernadette has a great job. My wife

came with both fun bags and money bags. Say hello

to an exact scale model of me. Oh, I'm not dark

chocolate. I'm melting your mouth caramel. Oh,

man. Look at my nose. Maybe it's a shipping problem.

What? Yeah, maybe Wesley Snipes and Toucan Sam

just got action figures that look like you guys.

This sucks. I can't believe I wasted all that

money. Oh, and my girlfriend wouldn't let me

get one. Look at my face. Do I look smug? I feel

smug. Yo, Joe, and welcome to the Cracktastic

Plastic Podcast, where a punk rock band of brothers

get together to talk about one of our shared

loves, toy collecting. Toy hunt by day, punk

rock band by night. We'll take any excuse to

get in the van. We all collect different toy

lines like those real American heroes. G .I.

Joe! To the toys that are more than meets the

eye. Transformers! To He -Man and the masters

of the universe! From vintage to modern and all

topics in between, you can always expect some

rowdy and passionate discussion because we love

talking toys here on the Cracktastic Plastic

Podcast. Do you ever catch yourself wondering

about those old retro and classic toys you grew

up with? Maybe reminiscing about the amazing

toys you received for your birthdays or Christmases?

Yeah, we do too. So we created a podcast to talk

all about those amazing toys. Catch the Toy Rewind

podcast each week as the brothers Newland discuss

and learn the history behind some of the best

toys from years past. You can listen on Apple

Podcasts, Spotify, or pretty much anywhere you

get podcasts. Also, be sure to check out toyrewindpodcast

.com for more content about those classic toys

you loved. Just an old guy talking about old

toys. It's me, Willie, from the Toy Tune Podcast.

I talk about toys from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s,

few 90s. and some mixtures of other toys in there

as well. If you'd like to hear me talk about

some old toys in podcast form, I'm available

on Apple, Stitcher, iHeartRadio. Just like an

infectious earworm, I'm all over the place. If

you'd like to see videos on old toys and old

retro games, check out my YouTube channel at

ArcadeUSA. Thanks for listening. Hi, I'm Dan,

and I'm the host of the Rock Nerd Radio Show,

which airs live on HudsonRiverRadio .com every

Wednesday evening at 8 .30 p .m. Eastern Standard

Time. It also gets backed up as a podcast, which

you can find on your preferred podcasting platform.

Every week on my show, I talk about all kinds

of pop culture. I talk about music. I talk about

movies, TV, comics, collectibles, and so much

more. I also feature a guest on my show periodically,

which you might enjoy. I have a couple of special

segments on my show, one called the cover song

of the week and my favorite thing in the world

this week. If you think this sounds cool, check

it out sometime. I hope you do. What was that

universal greeting again? Never mind. I remember.

Bah weep, Grana. Weep. Hey guys, it's Rodimus

Primal, and be sure to check out my YouTube channel.

Join me as I have Transformers discussions, retrospectives,

toy reviews, and more. You can also follow me

on Twitter at Rodimus Primal, as well as Facebook

and Instagram at Rodimus Primal Show. Transform

and roll out, and be sure to check out my content,

till all are one. Want to learn a bit about the

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bit more? Enroll today at Transformers University

Podcast. Each episode will tackle a piece of

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our way up to today. Hosted by me, Anthony Bercali,

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and lifelong Transformers fan, we'll go on a

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and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Transform and roll out! Hey, toy fans, this is

John, also known as Iacon Dispatch. You can find

me on pretty much every social network at Iacon

Dispatch, where I share cool Transformers and

Star Wars stuff that I like. Thanks so much to

the great people at Geekcast Radio Network for

putting this awesome project together and for

once again letting me contribute to it. Definitely

had a lot of fun with it. Take it easy, everyone,

and I'll see you around online. On the Simplistic

Reviews podcast, we talk movies. We talk TV.

We talk. Hello, Julie, what the heck are you

doing? Trying to make our spot sound more exciting

by adding explosions. Yeah, I'm pretty sure you

could have got the point across with sound effects.

Not the real thing. Download the show on iTunes

or at simplisticreviews .blogspot .com. I'm sure

your insurance company will cover that. No, they

won't. No, they probably won't. All right, thanks

for sticking with us. We are in our final five

toys for this first episode of our toy countdown,

numbers 100 through 76. take off here at number

80 and we're going to go back to the world of

action figures this one was a 1987 line that

was kind of a co -production between hesbro and

takara and maybe you guys can speak more to this

because i would never have voted on this in a

million years when it comes to like i was just

voting on action figures i don't think this would

have made my top 50 but a lot of fans of this

i'm not trying to hate we're talking about a

line of toys called the battle beasts Fire! Fire!

Burn through! Battle Beast! Fire! Water! Water

puts out fire! Battle Beast! Water! Water beats

water! Battle Beast! Battle for the fun of it!

Just activate their battle badges. I got fire!

I got water! Water beats fire! Battle Beast!

Blood! Fire! Fire beats water! Battle Beast!

Can grow into an army! Collect all 84! Battle

Beast! Oh yes! Mike, go ahead. Oh, yes. The Battle

Beasts were awesome. We got a chance to actually

interview a person who was, I don't know if they're

still working on it or not. They were working

on a Battle Beast guide or book or something.

Eric Braley. He does the Transformers magazine

that he's been doing for years. But Battle Beasts

were awesome. I think it was wood, fire, and

water were the three original symbols. I had

these things every... You know how everyone's

like, oh, you're going to step on all of Mikey's

Micro Machines. No, you're going to step on all

of Mikey's Battle Beasts. Don't step on my Battle

Beasts, damn it. Oh, I love these things. They

were so cool. Next to Transformers, the single

greatest rub sign ever. Yes, there was wood.

Fire and Water, and then later Sunburst, which

could beat all of them. It's like a rock, paper,

scissors type thing. Yeah, pretty much, yeah.

Steve, did you ever have these? No, I've seen

them. There was a video game that came out. It

was called Battle Beast, so that was the only,

like, it's different, but it kind of reminded

me of that. I, it just wasn't, it didn't appeal

to me whatsoever. I was not one of these people

that loved these, like, weird looking toys. I'm

not trying to hate because I've never had them,

so I can't say if they were good or bad. I've

honestly never seen these. I've never heard of

them before we did this countdown. So it's a

black hole for me, and that's strange because

I don't feel like I missed much in the 80s, but

apparently I missed the Battle Beast. So, all

right. Let's make our way to what I will consider...

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry. I have

not really looked into Battle Beast too much,

but the fact that Series 1... Called Autobots

and Decepticons. What the hell? Yeah, because

it's a Takara Hasbro type thing. Oh, right. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. Yep. Got it. Got it. Okay. So for

our number 79, we're staying with action figures,

but an action figure of a different kind, I think,

for me. This, again, it seems like every kid

that was born in the 80s probably played with

one of these at least once. It was originated

in 1976 from Kenner. We're talking about the

iconic Stretch Armstrong. Breaking news. Today,

unpredictable events have occurred across the

globe. Who has come to save the day for humanity?

Who is this mysterious, mighty hero? Stretch

Armstrong. Your stretchable superhero. Stretch

him four times his size. He becomes bigger than

a building. Tie him into a knot. He always goes

back to his original shape. Stretch him again

and again. Stretch Armstrong, the return only

from character. Stretch Armstrong. So Stretch

Armstrong, the toy that you could pull. and try

to break and that was the goal i think when you

played you were like how long can i stretch this

until it breaks and then it would like ooze its

way back into form and i don't even know what

was inside the thing i never looked at it i'm

sure i'm sure there's lots of youtube videos

or whatever people cutting it open with finding

whatever gel thing that was in there looked like

corn syrup don't eat it but uh this latex rubber

filled stretch Armstrong, I think. I never had

one, but I for sure played with one at one point

at somebody's house. So, Mike, what do you think

of Stretch Armstrong? Yeah, I had Stretch Armstrong

here and there over the years. It was fun enough,

but it wasn't like end of the world, like I could

play with this toy on a desert island kind of

fun. I don't know if this ever did, but this

feels like this toy should have been involved

in one of the Toy Story movies at some point.

It just feels like it would have fit into that

world. Steve, what do you think of Stretch Armstrong?

Does it deserve to be in our top 100? I think

so. I mean, I remember seeing the commercials

when I was watching Beast Wars. I knew a lot

of people that had them. It wasn't one of those

things that I had. I kind of wanted one as a

kid, but my parents went for quality, not for...

random stuff that i wouldn't care about all right

so stretch armstrong at our number 79 so so far

in the countdown we've only had one toy that

was originated in the 1960s that was trouble

but we're going to get another one here with

our number 78 and let the debate begin on what

is better is it power wheels or is it big wheel

big wheels big wheels coming in here at number

78 this is a 2009 inductee of the national toy

hall of fame fat wheels in back those fat back

wheels are something else fat enough to take

turns at full speed slick enough so when you

jam on the brakes you spin spin big wheel with

handbrake and fat wheels in back some assembly

required big wheel by marks came around in 1969

from mark's toys obviously there's versions of

toys that have wheels like this throughout time

but like 1969 is kind of when it, when Mark's

toys made it a thing. And obviously big wheels

was very popular more so in like the eighties.

It seemed like, and obviously they're still around

today. So Mike, we had power wheels at number

93. We have big wheels at 78. Is that right or

wrong? Oh, that's definitely right. Because big

wheels were definitely the cooler thing. Cause

you were powering it. You had to power like the,

there, there, there was no, power to it. There

was, you know, McFly, those boards don't work

on water. They ain't got no power. You need that.

You need the power to work the big wheel. I had

the Knight Rider big wheel. I had the Ninja Turtle

big wheel. Uh -huh. Yeah, I had the Knight Rider.

Knight Rider big wheel, much less. Oh, yeah.

Love that thing. I used that thing so long that

I burned through the plastic on the tires. nice

nice so this was like the power wheels nobody

it was like that toy that nobody had but like

they wanted big wheels was the toy that everybody

had everybody had because they were so cool because

they felt like you look at the night rider yeah

well yeah they're cheaper obviously but if you

look at the night rider one basically juts out

as kit's hood from the car so it was almost like

i had the car right kind of thing and then the

and then the back you know when you were Had

the handlebars or whatever the hell you call,

you know, whatever. It was decorated like his

inside dashboard. And really quickly, before

I forget, it was some kind of corn syrup inside

Stretch Armstrong originally. Yeah, that's what

I said. I thought it was corn syrup or something

like that. It was a proprietary substance, though,

so it had a secret formula. I know the Big Wheel,

like the classic blue, red, and yellow one. I

never had one specifically, but I'm sure I played

with one at some point. I think Big Wheels is

the more played -with toy versus Power Wheels,

so I get why it would be higher here. And it's

the only one out of the two that's in the National

Toy Hall of Fame, so they agree with us as well.

All right, that leaves room for only two. We're

going to go back -to -back with the 1960s toys

here. This one was introduced in 1966 from Milton

Bradley. That usually means that it's a board

game, guys. Milton Bradley, that's what they

did back in the day. This was a 2015 Toy Hall

of Fame inductee. This has a lot of various uses.

Kids can play with it. Adults can play with it.

It can be tame. It can be not tame. We're talking

about the game of Twister. At number 77, the

ultimate party game, I guess, if you want to

like interlock legs and arms with. the opposite

sex or whatever you're doing so and try to like

turn your body into ways that it shouldn't turn

oh my 70s was weird man and i wasn't even around

then but 1966 but uh twister um i it's so far

it's by far the toy that has been on the most

lists so um one two three four five six seven

eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen and made

14 lists Nothing else has... I think the highest

up to this point was like 11 for Hungry Hippos.

So it's been the one that's been on the most

lists. So there's a little bit of a universal

appeal. I actually didn't... It says I didn't

vote for Twister. I'm going to have to check

my thing. I didn't either. No, I didn't. I must

have left Twister off, but like I said, when

it came to board games, I only had room for so

many, and it had to be the best of the best,

and Twister didn't quite make that cut. I get

that it's like the universal party game. It's

not a game that I ever wanted to play too much,

though, because I just, I don't know. It wasn't

for me. But, Steve, what do you think about Twister?

I mean, I guess I can see why it's on there.

I've never been one that cared for this game.

Mike, were you a Twister fan? No. My body, even

as a skinny -ass child in the 80s, my body did

not contort like that. Yeah, I'm not a contortionist.

No. like no like yellow hand green right leg

blue like no i'm not no that's not fun to me

at all left kneecap broken pretty much yeah so

all right so that is our number 77 that leaves

us one left today our number 76 it's a 2006 inductee

into the national toy hall of fame it's been

around since the early 1900s in various versions

but Perhaps the most popular version of this

specific type of toy would be the one that came

from the company Lionel. We're talking about

the train. If anybody loves trains, it's me,

Johnny Cash. You know, if your boy's under 10

like mine is. He needs a big Lionel like this

Black River Freight. Lionel also makes HO gauge

trains for older kids like this Burlington 181.

But for smaller hands, the big Lionel is easier

to handle and put on the track. This Christmas,

get your boy a train that's built for the way

young boys play. A big, rugged Lionel. Lionel,

the big train for small hands. So Lionel trains

or toy trains, you know, the classic. train track

around your christmas tree with the train going

or like the awesome train sets with houses and

yards and trees and kinds of stuff like on a

humongous table um the the toy train like which

boy hasn't you know seems like that's like a

rite of passage like every boy gets like a toy

train or it's kind of like the model car or the

remote control car to me like the the lionel

train set or whatever train set company you you

buy one from um i think it's also one of the

most frustrating toys of all time because i swear

to goodness like there's always something that's

making it not run right yep yeah i have uh i

have in our garage the toy train set that i got

one year for christmas and i was like oh i'm

gonna get this out and like see if my daughter

thinks it's cool or whatever do you think i can

get that thing to run properly heck no because

There's always one part of the track that's not

touching right, so the current's not going through,

or something bananas is happening, or something's

bent the wrong way. So it's a very frustrating

toy. I eventually just shoved it all back in

the box and threw it back in the garage. But

it is cool when it's working right. It's cool

to look at. It's cool when you're at a store

that has some gigantic train display that's going

around the whole store or something like that.

That's all cool. It's frustrating to try to...

It's like trying to set up a thousand dominoes

without them tipping over to me. It just never

works. But I totally get why it's here. I voted

for trains because I think it just deserves to

be here. Steve, what do you think? I didn't,

funny enough, put it on my list, but I think

it's because I kind of lumped it in with model

kits. I mean, I can definitely see the appeal.

My grandpa actually has a kit. He bought my uncle

for Christmas when he was like eight or nine,

but my uncle never got into it, so my grandpa

did. Fast forward, he's like 84. He has a model

train kit that's the size of my office in his

basement that he's constructing. It goes through

walls, lights up, and everything else. He's built

all the buildings, the landscapes, the train

set, everything. It runs perfectly, but it's

insanely good. The one thing about it is it's

super cool when it's done right and it's cool

to look at, but if you're the one that's doing

it, it takes a massive amount of space. You have

to dedicate rooms to this, if not floors of your

house to this. It's crazy if you're able to pull

that off. Trains were in three people's top ten.

Mike, do you think it's worthy? Oh yeah, most

definitely. Like you guys have said, as long

as it's done right. It is really, really cool.

And the funny thing is, is there was a Transformers

train set. Huh. Yeah, the Tycho train set. It

was Transformers -based. And our good buddy,

he's been gone a number of years now, but Optimus

Scourge, who... Help me create ToyCast. He has

a video on his old YouTube channel. This video

is 12 years old. Transformers Tycho train set

test that I will embed into this episode post

on geekcastradio .com. Unfortunately, he passed

away, I think, 2010, 2011, somewhere around there.

Maybe it was a few years after that. I forget.

But he's been gone a long time now. And as soon

as you said train, I'm like, oh, okay. I know

exactly which video I'm embedding in this podcast

post because that's the only trade set video

I remember seeing from anybody that I knew on

YouTube way back in the day. All right. So that

is our numbers 100 or 101, I guess, through 76.

I'm going to do a quick recap and then get your

guys' opinion of this first section of the countdown.

So, so far, we have had six board games. We've

had six action figures. We've had three toys

that were more for outside, four toys that have

wheels, three stuffed toys, two from the electronic

world, one from clothing, and one from just miscellaneous

games. We have had nothing from the ball category,

the base element category, the books, the buildings,

the cards, crafts, educational, food, or the

miscellaneous, or music. None of those categories

have shown up at all. So that's where we're at

from that standpoint. We had five toys that either

came from the 1900s or before, two from the 1930s,

zero from the 1940s, four from the 50s, three

from the 60s, three from the 70s, six from the

80s, two from the 90s, and one from the 2000s.

And company -wise, we had two from Kenner, two

from Tyco, two from Milton Bradley, two from

Parker Brothers, one from LJN, two from Waymo.

and a couple that were just like more one -offs

so no hasbro and no mattel really so far so which

means good things to come or just less of those

than people think actually existed as far as

the originator of them um there are seven toys

that we talked about today that are currently

owned by hasbro even though none of them were

originally developed by hasbro So Mike, biggest

surprise or what is your reactions to numbers

101 through 76? I think it's a good bottom half

of the list. If by bottom half, they mean bottom

quarter. Same thing. It's interesting to see

where they evolve. Now that we know where this

first 25 are, it's going to be really interesting

to kind of see where people might guess what

the next 25 might be. yeah another interesting

thing like i said in the intro episode we've

had three people's number ones didn't make the

countdown at all so they're not going to show

up at all we had zero number ones show up today

so the highest we had i believe here was let

me do a quick scan we had some that were ranked

like in the like around four um somebody had

let's see or five i guess it would be yeah number

five for xbox somebody had xbox ranked at number

five somebody had teddy bear at five somebody

had dress -up kits at five somebody had lionel

trains at four actually and star trek at six

so those were like the highest ones oh i'm sorry

frisbee somebody had frisbee at number two so

we had somebody's number two fall today but that's

what we've had so far steve what are your reactions

so far surprised as far as star trek But not

surprised as far as the rest of it? Yeah. So

currently we have a tie at the top. Six entrants

from the board game world and six entrants from

the action figure world. Anybody want to put

a bet on which one's going to reign supreme at

the end? I'm thinking action figures are going

to rank. Mike? Yeah, pretty much. Or is there

going to be like a dark horse that's not in the

lead right now that's going to come back as we

make our way through there? I don't think so.

And right now we have the 1980s holding supreme

at number with six entrants. And the second is

1900s and before with five. So that's another

close race for sure. And like I said, no entrance

from 1920s or 1940s so far. So, all right. So

that's 101 through 76. Our next episode will

go the rest of this half of the 50. So we'll

go 75 through 51. It's going to be interesting

to see how that shakes up because this half of

the countdown, at least in our history of doing

these countdowns. A hundred through 51 is like

the wild cards. It's like, you don't quite know

what you're going to get. And it really starts

to like solidify. Once you get to that top 50,

you get a little bit more, almost predictable.

We'll see what it is. And when it's toys, because

toys is like such a, a wide ranging topic. So

anything else you want to say about this one

before we get on out of here? I think that's

it, but we do have to go to a quick ad break

and we'll come back to close the show right after

this. Because the world needs another movie podcast.

The Geek Cast Radio Network presents for your

listening pleasure, The Cinema Geek. Hosted by

Amanda, Kevin, Matt, and Dan. Each week we dive

headfirst in the landscape of movies as we discuss

movie news, play movie games, go in -depth on

reviews, and even have a top ten countdown or

two. Also, don't miss our director retrospective

series where we review noted directors' movies

film by film. Bottom line is, if you love movies

and love podcasts, you need to experience The

Cinema Geeks. You can find us on iTunes, blog

.radio, or geekcastradio .com. Hello, geeks and

geekettes. Looking for a podcast that covers

a vast array of topics? Then check out Altered

Geek Unleashed, where we discuss our thoughts

on this week's geeky news, tech, gaming, television

shows, movies, cartoons, comics, and more. So,

get altered, get geeky with the Altered Geeks.

Every Friday on the Geekcast Radio Network. We

are back and we want to thank all the contributors

that have sent us lists in to make up this Top

100 Toys Countdown. You've heard several of their

ads throughout these first two episodes. And

yeah, well, first quarter's done. Now we just

need the rest of the $1 .50 or however the hell

many other math things there are. Any final thoughts

before I run through the closing, guys? No, I'm

interested to see where this goes and interested

to see what people's reactions are, and I can't

wait to reveal the rest of the countdown as we

make our way through. Thank you for joining us

on the Top 100 Toys Countdown. If you'd like

to get in contact with us and leave feedback

for the show, there are several ways to do so.

Visit the website where you can listen to and

comment on all of our content. That's geekcastradio

.com. You can send an email to feedback at geekcastradio

.com. Follow us on X at Geekcast Radio for the

network at TF ToyCast for the ToyCast show. I'm

at TF2 and Mike. Steve, what's your Twitter thing?

At SCP21. Ev? At Optimus Solo. Check us out on

Facebook, GeekCast Radio Network, and ToyCast.

And next time, as he said, it will be 75 to 51.

For now, I am TF2 and Mike with... Steve Megatron.

And Optimus Solo. And we're going to close out

with whatever the heck is right here. Mike? Mike

died. I think Mike fell asleep. We've done a

lot of these countdowns. I've never had Mike

disappear on us. Yep. Never seen that happen

either. Usually I'm the one that falls asleep.

Oh, there he messaged us. It's still recording,

so he said his computer screwed up. Yeah, it's

still going. What is thy bidding, my master?

There is a great disturbance in the force. It

is better. We hold you to the power on the dark

side. Still going. Nothing outlasts the Energizer

battery. It keeps going and going.