Superman Toys Discussion

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Five, four, three... and from the pop culture

network, Devol. Hello and welcome to the 78th

episode of Toycast. I am TFJoneMike and joining

me is yet another member from the pop culture

network, Devol. Hello, sir. What's up? What's

going on, dude? 78, huh? Yes. You call me back

when you get to 88 and we'll have a nice long

fun discussion. Next Saturday night. It was fun

being on the show. Thanks very much. Damn, you

ruined it. I was gonna say next Saturday night.

We are sending you back to the future. I was

so happy you announced that that was going to

be your episode and I was even happier that Dave

didn't get it and it took flavor Dave all of

like two seconds ago. Oh 88 miles. I get it.

I get it. He was having that discussion with

me. He's like, uh, When he said that I was thinking,

back to the future didn't come out till 85. And

I'm like, oh Dave. Oh Dave. Dave, Dave, Dave.

Yes. But yeah, I said it last time when we had

Dan and Dave on. I am very weird with episode

numbers. Like if I can connect an episode to

a certain anniversary of something, I will put

it there. Like 77 obviously was Star Wars because

that was the year. new hope came out so an obvious

that's that's awesome i think that's the coolest

thing of your like one of the coolest things

your podcast the fact that you like the episode

numbers usually tied to something and if that's

so yeah that makes me smile yeah like um like

all once we get into the 80s It's almost every

single episode in the 80s for Toycast will be

tied to something. Dave mentioned tying 82 to

G .I. Joe. Since that was the first year G .I.

Joe came out. Hopefully going to have Dan back

on for 83, which obviously is Masters. 89 should

be either Batman or the first Ninja Turtles movie.

I'm just saying. Actually, it will be Batman.

It originally was gonna be The Simpsons, but

I moved that to 91 since 91 is really when the

Simpsons kind of took off Yeah, I'd say 89 was

Oldman, right? Yeah, wasn't that the start of

it? Yeah. Yeah Yeah, yeah, God the Simpsons.

I just read an interesting book the unauthorized

story of the Simpsons. Oh really? Yeah, it was

a pretty good but It's hard to tell what all

is really true in that book and what's not Yeah,

I think one of those things where you're like

I want to hear a dirt and you're like, okay Well,

I read the dirt but uh, did that really happen?

Yeah, I I don't think we're gonna get any real

dirt on The Simpsons unless it gets to the point

where Matt writes his autobiography That'll be

an interesting read yeah, it will be So, why

don't you introduce yourself to the listeners

for those? Oh, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Enough

of the chit -chat. My name is Jason DeVall. I

am the co -host of That New Toy Smell, which

is the weekly toy news and review show on popculturenetwork

.com. I am also one of the co -hosts of the It

Figures podcast, and I am the co -creator of

That New Toy Smell, so Dan and I actually created

it together. a sense Actually, I only came up

with the idea because I was jealous because he

was doing another show and I was like I really

want to do I told him it's like I'm really jealous

of you. Will you come do this show with me? Okay,

and then he came up with the name and I'm like,

ah Now Dan can say he created it for all time

But I mean it's a pleasure to be on the show

I was I was excited that you you actually asked

me to, and I was like, oh, it's Superman. I got

a lot of Superman stuff, and it's cool. Well,

I was trying to find somebody who would be fairly

knowledgeable about it, and like I said, because

I tied it to the original film release, I'm like,

well, I've seen Deval do all his DC Universe

classics reviews and stuff when he was doing

those figures, and I'm like, oh, well, I'm sure

he has to know some stuff about Superman. Yeah,

so I mean, you know, I was trying to find someone

who would be you know, a good conversationalist

And I mean just working with you in general.

You're a cool guy. So I Try you'd be the only

one to say that because the rest of the guys

apocalypse network would look at you and go You're

talking about the fall He has my little ponies

a rainbow bright and a popple. He's not that

cool. None of the other guys Have had puppets

from themselves Yeah, that's true. That is true.

Hey, just wait until I go to New York for Toy

Fair this year, buddy. I'm gonna go to FAO Shores

and I'm buying me a Muppet whatnot. I'm getting

a whatnot that looks just like me. And then there

will be a Puppet Deval on every episode. If I

can do it. Oh god, I can't stop laughing. Holy

crap. I have wanted an actual Muppet, like an

actual Jim Henson Muppet forever. I've loved,

you know, I love the Muppets and I've got...

I've got an old an old Ernie puppet that came

out in like the late 70s early 80s and he's sitting

on top my entertainment center on a doll stand

but Dude, I love puppets and I was so excited

when they started selling whatnots and last year

when we went I actually had the money for it

But by the time we got to FAO Schwarz, they were

closed. I was like, oh some of them So that's

my goal this year for toy fair is to go buy a

whatnot So I can have a whatnot and be like,

I own a Muppet, now what? Oh, that's very, very

awesome. The other thing that you and I have

in common is we are both Transformers toy fans

as well. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Mostly, you kind

of run the whole breadth of Transformers, but

I'm more of a Generation 1 guy. I only own a

few actual Generation 1 pieces, like my Galvatron

is original, my two Dinobots I have are original.

Everything else I bought from Generation 1 has

all been reissues, either from the Hasbro stuff

from Toys R Us, or from the actual Takara Japanese,

the book -style editions that came out. I bought

just about all those that came out. I think the

only two, because I only have... Three g1 pieces

anymore. I have an original 84 optimus. I have

an original purple astro train and I have the

Takara reissue movie accurate Galvatron with

gold matrix because because the the original

Hasbro one Oh God, those are not movie colors

No, not at all. I'm looking at him right now.

He's got a gray head a dark gray face purple

shoulders you know the red shoulder pads that

that end up being the the front of his you know

of his of his base was yeah um i i you know you're

right i i kind of do run the gamut when it comes

to transformer stuff but i i don't like it all

like i loved animated figures those are those

are pretty awesome oh some of the animated stuff

that came out with great i just wish i could

have found it Like animated RC would have been

awesome, but you should be able to find her fairly

easily now I mean everybody in the world has

her I think I was one of the last people to get

her Yeah, I know I know flavor Dave hunted for

that figure for I Don't know been like I've got

like my generation one stuff, and I've got some

some armada figures like the Galvatron that came

out in the armada line The Scorponok that came

on that line I got a couple of Beast Wars figures

and then of course the Bayformer stuff. I only

have two of those. I have, and they're both ravages,

I have the Deluxe class Ravage and I have the

Legends class Ravage. You know, some of the ones,

I only bought the ones when the movie first came

out because at the time Dan and I were working

at Toys R Us and I was there. We were putting

them out. We were there till midnight putting

them out So we actually left one of the registers

open being one of the supervisors and we bought

a bunch of them that night and you know I bought

barricade jazz and both bubble bees and You know

a lot of a lot of them. I know why people aren't

happy with them I know why people are displeased

with the way they look The actual transformations

of some of these are really really cool The ratchet

the deluxe ratchet that came out the first one

is is amazing Just like their transformation

modes a lot, you know, and then I've got a I've

got some of the the vinyl tech stuff From Japan.

Yeah, and then of course my masterpiece my Megatron

and my optimus my Grimlock my Starscream my Skywarp.

Have you pre -ordered Rodimus yet? The master

yeah, I had heard he was out. Are there pictures

of him? Yeah, he's he's not out. He's he's out

for pre -order knew I knew he was pre -ordered

hold on let me see Yeah, but I mean if you're

looking for other like kind of like What the

hell was I gonna say Like other like Stuff that's

reminiscent of g1 generations would be good for

you a lot of the generation stuff is out or is

coming out. They're also putting the war for

Cybertron, which I'm very thankful that they've

made toys from the video game. Because even though

they're the deluxe class price point and they're

the deluxe class size, the price point, I don't

have a problem with the size. Optimus looks a

little weird as a deluxe class figure because

he's almost the same size as Bumblebee. God,

they're pre -ordering Rodimus for $200. On Big

Bad Toy Store, they are, yeah. But that's all

of Big Bad Toy Store's masterpiece prices. Yeah,

he's cool looking. I don't think I'd actually

seen pictures of him. I had read that he was

coming out. He looks amazing. I mean, he looks

really nice. Looks like he can do both the Rodimus

Prime and the Hot Rod version. Yeah, it's basically

four toys in one. That's very cool. Yes. Somehow,

I have to beg my wife to let me buy this. Yeah.

So, I guess we can move right into the discussion

topic, which is basically going to be an overall

discussion on Superman toys. I first remember

having a Superman toy when I was a kid when it

was the when the many incarnations of super friends

were out on on television. Yes. So I had the

the blue and gray Batman. I had the the Superman.

I had can't believe I'm admitting this. I had

Aquaman. God. I think they made Firestorm for

that line because I remember having a Firestorm.

Are you talking about the Superpowers line? I

think it's the Superpowers line. I don't know.

Are you talking about the Toy Biz line that came

out in the... Because they had the Superpowers

line and then when the first Batman movie came

out, Toy Biz was releasing those figures and

then they started releasing... Actual DC figures

that a lot of them were taking from the same

molds as the superpowers figures I think it was

the superpowers figures because this was like

back in 84 85. Oh, yeah, I would have been super

yeah, this was like these were almost like direct

show accurate figures from the super friends

cartoon I Missed the 80s so much doesn't everybody

I Missed the toys. Yeah, I really do. Yes That

was the great thing about the Super Powers line

is that it was such a detailed line for that

day. You had toys that had action features in

them, but the action features were so well done.

You had figures like Plastic Band towards the

end of the line where you pressed his arm and

his neck went shooting up, but when his neck

was down, you could still move his head, you

could still pose him. You know stuff like like

the like the Batman when you squeeze his legs

of the Superman when you squeeze his legs his

arms You know their arms moved like they were

punching. Yeah, they could still pose them. I

mean it was such well done thing Yeah, they had

really cool action figures for action figures

in the 80s Action features for action figures

I should say I don't know what other stuff for

Superman as far as action. I mean, I only really

remember those and I remember the Justice League

stuff, but Well, I mean but you you start looking

back into I Mean you could you could go all the

way back to the to late 30s early 40s when Superman

first came out to find some of the first Toys,

you know, the they're the club one of the classic

ten toys is the Superman you wind him up And

he turns the tank over. Yeah you know you go

up to the 70s with with the legendary toy company

Mego when they were doing World's Greatest Superheroes.

And you had Superman in that line and several

incarnations, you know, on up to the Superpowers

line with that Superman, which, you know, transformed

into DC Direct doing it, Mattel doing it, you

know, Toner Doll Company's done a number of Superman

character figures. I mean, you just, you know,

the toy aisles seem to never be... Missing Superman

and now now Mattel has gone back to the old Migos

style in conjunction with With the thing when

I'm to think pal, but with The name escapes me

on top of my head dr. Migos company and they're

doing these you know, dr Migos actually creating

these new Migos figures with cloth costumes and

you know, Superman was in that first wave. So

yeah Yeah, I mean Superman has had a fairly decent

amount of toys especially like once you get into

the the DC Universe classics figures I know before

Mattel started that line there was the DC Superheroes

and there was Justice League toys, which is the

ones that I have these figures overall in my

opinion these i guess there's three and three

quarter inch figures i'm not really sure they're

i mean they're there's like i've got batman standing

here and he just comes up to the face of emperor

palpatine mighty mug so they're smaller than

mighty mugs yeah they're they're about three

about three and three quarter inch and uh Yeah,

I want to say they're about that size. Maybe

just a tiny hair bigger. Yeah they might be closer

to four inches, but Yeah, I might be pushing

my estimation there because I actually don't

own any of those per se Yeah, so I have nothing

to stand them up to if I had one I'd stand them

up to my Captain Power figures and go Yep, you're

same size. Yeah, I actually wish I almost left

these in like mint and sealed card because After

because I've had these figures for about two

years now After getting them out of the package

and trying to make them just stand up on their

own is is horrible especially with Batman because

he has And I know we're supposed to come on Superman,

but Batman because I've got him here in my hand

here He's got like Ratcheting not really ratcheting,

but he's got a knee joint that his like his his

Shannon below his knee can bend so he can kind

of have an action post But if you bend his leg

too far back, and it goes all the way back, because

it's on that joint, first of all, his cape would

get in the way. Second of all, it looks like

you broke his damn leg. Yeah, exactly. I don't

know. The Justice League on unlimited figures,

you know. It goes back to the thing that they're

geared towards kids. I get that. I understand

that as a collector. But they gear these towards

kids and towards collectors, and now especially

even more towards collectors since the show's

not even on the air anymore, really. But the

designs of those figures, they kept the very

animated look of those figures, the very Bruce

Tim look. But they don't translate well into

toys at all. the way that Mattel has done them

and continue to do them they just don't seem

like they they translate well at all I think

the only one that's really translated and I don't

have him like right in front of me he's over

on my shelf was the I don't know if it was an

exclusive or what it was but Lobo Lobo yes he

was the he was Maddie collector exclusive yes

yeah he uh if they made all of them in that style

and that size because he is slightly bigger than

all the other ones If they made him like if they

make maybe all the only ones like that Then it

would probably be a little bit better because

Lobo stands fine on his own even though he is

top -heavy. Oh Yeah Yeah, he's he was a great

figure for them to do too as a as an exclusive.

Yeah, I Don't know man, it's just it's one of

those lines that that never appeased to me. I

mean I appeased to me appeal to me. Good God

Can you tell I've been at work all day people?

No The cartoon series was great. I always loved

the cartoon. I always admired it. I always thought

it was one of the great, more recent series that

have, you know, shown up on Cartoon Network.

Yeah. But the toy line just never appealed to

me. I looked at the toy line and went, eh. I

don't know, the 2010s of JLU figures like Star

Wars Superman and Batman Beyond and the three

pack of Nightwing. Penguin and Batgirl, those

all look really, really cool. Well, yeah, now

that they're getting, you know, now that they're

starting to make characters like Batman Beyond,

you know, characters like that where they're

starting to come out now and it's starting to

feel like the smaller cousin of DC Universe.

And to me, that's cool. I mean, I may not like

the toy line, but I still appreciate... what

Mattel has done with it, what they're pushing

for with it, and the fact that they continue

to keep that series going even though pretty

much all retailers but Target have lost interest

and don't want it. They keep it going because

the fans keep buying it. They found a good partner

in Target where Target was willing to carry whatever

they made, pretty much, and they've just banked

on it. So as long as fans keep buying it, they'll

still get those figures. At least for the next

foreseeable. Oh, yeah, I actually I had watched

your all's coverage. I think it was Wasn't totally

fair. I think it was comic -con was yeah where

you all showed off over at pop culture network

you all showed off a video of Mattel's DC line

coming up and they showed a three pack of Batman

the Joker and Grey Ghost Oh, yeah, that toy store

finally has it pre -ordered up for 16 and finally

Yeah that that was such a cool -looking three

-pack because the great ghost is one of those

characters from the animated series That episode

in particular is is I know it's a lot of people's

favorite episodes I know we keep getting off

track, but keep going back to Batman, but I mean

they the great ghost I mean they they kind of

give you that feeling that the great ghost was

the whole reason why Bruce became Even though

it was his parents getting murdered, but the

great ghost was his Linchpin like that is what

guided him towards the look of the costume and

everything and it just such a cool episode. Oh,

I I completely agree and but you know what like

I said the From what the ones that I would like

to start getting the jail you 2010 figures like

Like I said that Star Wars Superman looks really

really cool because that's from the Batman Beyond

episode where Shooter McGavin voiced him and

he went all rogue because Starro was, you know,

sucked onto his body and everything else. But

the DC Super Heroes ones that I have, Superman

comes with a piece of kryptonite. And I think

he can hold it in his hand, but I'm not going

to even try to attempt that because he'll fall

over. Yeah, it's like the the big world's greatest.

Lex Luthor that came out, the 8 inch one that

came out in the first wave, he comes with a big

old chunk of kryptonite, and if you get it just

right in his hand, he can hold it. But if not,

no, it's almost way too big for him to even attempt.

Yeah, the Lex Luthor that came in the, because

I bought like, I don't know, I think I bought

like, I don't know, 14 figures off of eBay, they

were all mint on cart, it was like $43. Yeah.

The Lex Luthor that Is in the DC superheroes

line. He's basically his I Call it season 5 which

is technically unlimited season 2 when Lex It's

after divided we fall and all that Where he has

the the suit where it's you know, he's got his

gun on his chest and all that So it's like a

green screen and black suit With a almost looks

like a Batman utility belt on him He comes with

this weird, I guess, kryptonite gun ray thing.

I don't know if he can hold it, but the legs

on this figure, he looks like a freaking praying

mantis. The legs are just so freaking weird on

it. And again, it's getting these smaller figures

to actually stand up without looking like they

are walking like... you know zombies or look

like they have their legs broken is a real chore

and that's why I keep pretty much all of them

in a little bin like tucked away under my shelf

so I don't actually have these guys displayed

at all oh man yeah I I get the feeling all too

well because there's there were well I won't

say there's a number of figures in my collection

that do that but well my master's figures like

all of their knee joints now are starting to

loosen and Sure enough, you know, I'll come down

into my man cave every once in a while and Princess

Adora and Prince Adam will be laying on the floor

and I'll be like, oh, that's great. I'm glad

that happened again. Or like my Armada Unicron,

I'll come downstairs and he'll be like hunched

over. I'm like, oh, Unicron got tired. You know,

you should get that 2010 Unicron. It's more movie

accurate. I know, but man, the Armada... The

Armada one, to me it still looks cool. The designs

of it kind of give that throwback to the original

prototype almost to a degree. I think Superman

honestly is, I haven't seen a lot of these, but

I've seen statues and stuff of him. I know there

was a statue a couple years ago floating around

that it was pretty much just like what Christopher

Reeve looked like in the film. There there is

a DC direct statue that I don't think is out

yet. I know they showed it at Toy Fair They had

it on display again at Comic -Con, but it's basically

they're doing this series of statues One is Christopher

Reeves Superman one is Linda Carter as Wonder

Woman and one is Adam West as Batman no Oh God

89 Batman. Oh Michael Keaton. I think Michael

Keaton good guy I'm getting early stages of Alzheimer's

in my mid 30s already. It's horrible But I mean

they're doing those series of statues with you

know based on the actors as they looked in costume

Which are very cool if you have like $300 Yeah,

that's the problem with statues and stuff like

that. The prices are just outrageous I mean I

can see like you know we said earlier when I

sent you the link to Masterpiece Rodimus and

you said $200 but the thing is $200 gets you

technically four toys in one toy where you know

$150, $275, $300 for just a statue I mean that's

great if you have the extra cash to blow but

if you don't it's like Oh, God, that's just...

I'm not saying statues should be like 20 bucks.

No, not at all. But, I mean, $300, that's a lot

of money. Oh, yeah. I mean, you can go the same

way, too, when you talk about some of the 12

-inch action figures that are out, like stuff

from Hot Toys. I bring them hot toys because

they've done a Superman figure in their 12 inch

scale as well as a Marlon Brando. So they did

the Brandon Routh Superman from Superman Returns.

They did Brando from Superman because he was

in Superman Returns. They were able to do that.

And just recently in the last four months or

so, they announced that they had actually nailed

down the rights to the original film series and

have signed off likenesses for the actors and

actresses or at least started that. you know,

contractual mumbo jumbo. Um, so they're going

to start coming out with these, these amazing

12 inch figures based on the original super movie.

But then you start looking at the, just like

a statue, you start looking at, you know, I'm

looking up here at a shelf of, of hot toy stuff

and I'm looking at my Mark four and Mark three

iron man and you know, my Mark four, Mark two

and Mark one iron man's, you know, there's, there's

$700 right there, you know, just in three figures.

That's nuts. You know, you look at you look at

the Batman stuff that's come out and you know

I've got both I've got the first two jokers are

first Batman's and You know, there's there's

almost a thousand dollars. Yeah So I mean you

start, you know, it's the same thing I mean it

just sucks that all of the cool stuff is really

expensive Well, all the not so cool stuff is

either hard to find or not worth buying Yeah,

it's like every time, and Target and Walmart

especially, I honestly don't, like Target I think

does an okay job, but Walmart, they don't care.

Every time I go into the toy aisle at the local

Walmart here that I have, it's like, okay, there's

WWE stuff, don't care about that. There's Bakugan

crap, I don't care about that. There's still

revenge of the fallen figures on the lines. I

haven't cared about Tudor mudflap in months.

I don't even care about that character whatsoever

But it's like it's like it's like they just don't

care about their toy departments I mean, it's

like it's a it's a second thought target is slightly

less They care a little bit at least they'll

have toy displays like I remember when When the

generations line first hit Stores, I was actually

there the day that the truck was there and then

like oh Well, we've got like a half an hour to

get all these toys out on display and make sure

everything's out and everything else I'm like,

oh cool new toys great awesome and I had just

gone to Walmart and I'm like Do I really want

to go to Target because if I go over here and

there's nothing new I'm gonna be sorely mad and

pissed because I was just in Walmart and like

I said, they had nothing but tuna mudflap like

They are fine. I like target I'll go in there

and I go in there and boom toy explosion transformers

everywhere But it's just like I don't know. It's

so you know, it's that's the that's the biggest

difference and we we talk about that a lot amongst

ourselves You know when we film the show and

record the podcast and stuff that the fact that

Target usually always has the stuff first, it

seems. They always have the newest stuff first.

Walmart and Toys R Us are actually usually way

behind depending on where you're at in the country.

And then a lot of times you can go into a Kmart

and find stuff that no one else has, which boggles

my mind. Yeah, I haven't been to Kmart in months.

I don't like Kmart. Well, they're starting to

get a lot more toy traffic because they've been

doing these special events with Mattel. They

did Hot Wheel events, they did the World of Cars,

they just did a Mattel WWE event where they actually

got the launch of the... WWE Classic Superstars,

I think it was that first wave or the second

wave that came out. They got all of them exclusively

first for like an amount of time and they launched

them at Kmart. And then this newest, the wave

that's coming out from DC Universe, I want to

say it's wave 16. It's the one with the Validus

build a figure and it's got the versions of Starman

and Martian Manhunter. That actually is going

to be at Kmart's first before anyone else. Oh,

cool. Yeah, yeah, I know so Kmart Kmart. Thanks

to Sears backing is uh starting to get up there

again They're like hey look at us remember We

used to have cool toys to and Sears is going

you guys keep the toys. Well. We won't carry

them anymore Crap see I find it very funny. I

used to go into Well, I didn't used to go into

it, but like when I was a kid We would always

get like the Sears and the JC Penny wish books

Oh, yeah. And it's like, I found it very strange

that outside of like, well, Sears, outside of

electronics and automotive stuff, they're basically

known for clothing and home goods and stuff like

that. Exactly. But in the 80s, I mean, when the

toy industry was booming, was ridiculously booming.

The toy industry booming, all of the regulations

were taken off. of kids animated television shows.

You were able to basically have a half hour commercials.

Sears and JCPenney were toy havens. I mean, think

about, go back to all the vintage Star Wars stuff

that was out and think about all the stuff that

Sears had that was exclusive to Sears either

at the Sears stores or was exclusive through

that catalog. I mean, just think about all the

years, and Montgomery Awards is another one before

they went out of business. I mean look back at

all the Montgomery Ward's wish books and the

Sears and you know and the JCPenney's like you

mentioned and you know you'd find scans of those

online today or just find be at a garage sale

and somebody's just got stacks of them and you

just start buying them up and going through them

and you're like oh my god why aren't toys like

this today? I know. well i think the reason and

again or deviating from certain but i think the

reason is is that you have sorry that kind of

happens when i know it's fine and it happens

when anyone else is on this show and it's it's

fine you know we just get into discussing stuff

but i think one of the reasons why that that

is deviated today is because you have like hobbylink

japan big bad toy store dot com eBay doesn't

freaking help whatsoever Amazon you have all

these online retailers So, you know Sears and

JC Penney and stores of that like the the wish

books. They're they're just out of style now,

I guess Right. Um, but I mean you and I are both

80s kids. Yeah, so it's one of those things where

you know We we just had a discussion about San

Francisco trying to make a law on banning Happy

Meal toys from Happy Meals unless the meals were

health -related. The wife and I were driving

home from work yesterday when I heard that on

the radio, and I got all bent out of shape. She's

like, why do you care? I'm like, because they're

basically taking a piece of my childhood and

pissing on it. She's like, you get a lot of attachments

to your childhood. I'm like, my childhood was

a good part of my life, and I enjoyed it, so

back off me, woman. Did you see that? I don't

know. I'll have to see if I can find the link

It might be on one of our older episodes. There

was a story that somebody wrote McDonald's was

having like fantastic four figures or Marvel

figures and there was like human torch and the

thing In their happy meals and this article pretty

much Lambasted McDonald's saying why are they

marketing these towards kids this? This is a

toy that's basically on, it looks like it's on

fire and the thing is saying it's clobbering

time and that's gonna tell kids to beat people

up and everything else and I'm thinking... You

know, that's just the sad part about the way...

I mean, well, I won't even say the way that our

society's gone because the society has never

changed. If you look back to the 80s Fantastic

Four cartoon and the fact that they couldn't

have Johnny Storm in it so you had Herbie the

robot because they were afraid kids were gonna

start lighting themselves on fire. They, you

know, society doesn't give children... enough

credit to be smart about things because let's

face it some of the toys we had as children we

had stuff that That you know, I mean you had

missile firing, you know when Dave was a kid

back when the Battlestar Galactic toys were out,

you know Yeah, I get it a kid choked on a missile

and that screwed it up for everybody But I mean

even we were kids in the 80s we had you know,

they don't even really sell them anymore But

we had you know, the cops figures as you guys

discussed on an episode of your tooncast Well,

the cops figures came with caps, you know and

cap guns basically Robocop was the same way,

you know You know a lot of our toys in the 80s

were were actually pretty dangerous to today's

standards of where society is but You know, we

didn't put any eyes out. Yeah, no one really

got hurt in the 80s but suddenly you get into

the 90s and today and it's suddenly like you

know all those people that grew up in the 80s

are suddenly you know now most of us are parents

and they're freaking out for no apparent reason

and forgetting what it was like to be a child

and to have that sense of wonderment and that

sense of amazement and discovering things on

your own. You know, I learned the hard way that

when you hang on a tree branch and it breaks,

you're going to knock the wind out of you. I

bet you never hang on a tree branch again. Oh,

no. And today it's, you know, you've got way

too many, you know, parental groups and all these

other groups are just like babying children.

And I'm scared to see the children of today take

over for us tomorrow. And it's suddenly just

going to be like. Nobody wants to touch, you

know, nobody wants to pick up a centipede or

you know Or or poke a dead bird You know, everybody's

gonna be like, oh my god, I don't want to do

it The problem with this article and again, I'm

gonna have to find it to show you the problem

with this article is whoever the person was that

was writing it was basically saying that Basically

saying that McDonald's markets the happy meals

and the mighty kids meals to kids. I'm sorry.

No There's no way. Yes, the commercials for the

Happy Meals are, you know, so kids can see that,

hey, this is what's coming up next in the Happy

Meals, but there is no six, seven, eight, nine

-year -old kid that I know that physically walks

into McDonald's with two, three, four, five dollars

and says, I want a Happy Meal with a toy that's

on fire. it's a parent that goes in and says

hey do you want a hamburger happy meal or a chicken

nugget happy meal and the parent gets them that

oh yeah exactly that's how it was when i was

a child you know my when when uh my late grandfather

and i used to go out to run errands or he'd pick

me up from school every day and every day we

would go through the drive -in at mcdonald's

and he would give me a happy meal because you

know in the 80s they were only like two bucks

yeah He'd get me a Happy Meal every day, and

I had so many toys. To me, even back then, it

wasn't about the toys, it was about the experience.

It was about an experience going with someone

that I loved. He used to get a Happy Meal too,

and we'd play with the toys together. To me,

that was exciting. Nowadays, it's like, oh my

God, they're marketing towards kids. Well, in

a sense, they are. but maybe you should enjoy

that experience with your child while you can

before he grows up to be a lazy piece of poop

like myself. And I believe Superman has been

featured in several Happy Meals as well. A few.

Nice segue to go back into the... You know, he

has been. I think, I believe... I can't think

of any off the top of my head, but yes, I want

to say that there has been a couple of Happy

Meals, or at least not from McDonald's, from

maybe... Burger King or another company. Yeah,

it might have been the kids club meals. I was

always so and again We're getting off Superman

here, but I was always so torn in the 80s because

it was like Happy meals, but wait Burger King

has the kids club meals and it's like, you know,

holy crap. I Was never a big fan of the kids

club stuff I always thought I always thought

the commercials and the characters they created

originally for the kids club because they had

that whole kind of group of, uh, just very odd

children. Like the animated children. I always

liked Ronald McDonald better. I always liked

McDonald Land better. So, you know, you had Ronald

trying to save his hamburgers from the the Hamburglar

and you had the unstoppable monstrosity known

as the Grimace running amok. Yeah. Well, well,

you know, um, um, what's his name? Oh, damn.

From the stupid Popeye cartoon. wimpy or i don't

know wimpy was the original hamburglar oh that's

pretty funny because he's always eating hamburgers

in those cartoons so i guess uh keep deviating

here this is just so much fun uh getting into

the display case this is where we each talk about

uh one figure and since you're the guest you

can go first sir You know, I have to say I've

had I have a bunch and you know, I've quite a

few DC universe figures of Superman You know,

I mentioned the toner dolls. I actually have

the the toner character figure of Superman, which

I think is really cool. Look they made a doll

out of Superman they did toner the toner doll

company out of Out of upstate New York is actually

has been doing for the last few years a DC stars

line of Collector dolls basically they call them

character figures very cool, but they've done

they've done Superman super good They've done

many versions of Supergirl Wonder Woman. They've

done a Batman Actually, I'm looking up above

my my my entertainment center and there's a Bruce

Wayne with a Batman costume standing there But

uh, I have to say my favorite Superman figure

of all time and it's actually one that I don't

own believe it or not But I always loved the

figure I had it when I was a kid I see it every

time we go to toy shows. I see a beat up one

in a box somewhere, and I always play with it

to see if he still works, but it's the Kenner

superpower, Superman. I always loved that figure.

They had the cloth cape, and he squeezed his

legs, and he punched. To me, that figure is,

to me, what the 80s was all about, and what the

80s era of superhero comics was all about. was

those figures because I remember looking at DC

Comics like Superman comics from back then and

you'd find a superpowers ad in the back and just

everything about that figure is such a well done

and such a well constructed figure and line that

I mean it goes without mention that that if you

don't own a superpowers figure you probably if

you're a superhero fan look into that series

if you if you haven't if you're not old enough

to remember it. Look into it because you will

be pleasantly surprised how Actually by the affordable

they are loose and how very cool that whole series

is right Yeah, I I remember the old Kenner toys

from the 80s And I had a lot of them. I was saying

earlier. I don't know if I said an honor offer.

I can't remember now Yeah, I had Superman I had

the gray and blue Batman I had firestorm It was

just a really cool line, and because at the time

Super... I don't know if it was Challenge of

the Super Friends or if it was the new Super

Powers show, Friends thing, whatever. It was

one of the reincarnations of Super Friends in

the 80s that was on, and it was like, you know,

the toys matched the cartoon, and it was like,

oh, this is so cool. Meanwhile... Meanwhile,

on Apocalypse... Meanwhile... I am Darkseid and

I want to stalk Wonder Woman! God, that's a horrible

match right there. Darkseid and Wonder Woman.

Yikes. So I've kind of already talked about him,

but I have, as I said before, I have the DC superhero

Superman and... I don't know. I kind of wish

that, I think my only really main complaint besides

the fact of the stand -up ability of these figures,

I kind of wish the cape would detach and that

the cape actually had the S on it, but it just

kind of like has a folded crease down like it

looks like it's flowing, like at the top where

his shoulders are at the top of his neck. It

just kind of has like a folded crease, like somebody

folded it in half and then put it on him. I don't

know, it's kind of weird. The other thing with

these figures is, as far as I can tell because

there's no holes in the bottom of their feet,

you can't get figure stands for these guys. No.

At all. And like you said before Well, I want

to say that they actually did do some figure

stands for Justice League Unlimited because they

had Justice League Unlimited stands and DC Universe

Classic stands They do But I want to say some

of the later lines actually had holes in the

feet Right, yeah, but this one doesn't and I

mean when I still had the packages for these

guys, because I don't have the boxes anymore.

I mean, it shows them, I think it shows them

on stands, or it might have shown them in a diorama

on the back of the package, like on some sort

of display piece, but without stands and without

holes in their feet, these guys fall over fairly

regularly. Always take a small Dremel tool and

drill a hole in their feet and put them on a

stand. Yeah, that's that's true But for now,

I think they're just gonna stay in this little

purple box that I have all crunched up together

So my head keeps going back to meanwhile All

I can think of is Frank Caliendo because if you

ever if you ever see him live He actually does

that in his act. He actually does amazing amazing

impersonation of the man who did the that voiceover,

I can't think of his name off the top of my head,

but he does it perfectly. Melding in from that

to John Madden every meanwhile. Yeah, no, it's

cool. I don't know. I just I can't see John Madden

talking about toys without that stupid friggin'

chalkboard of his. Oh, dude. There's there's

nothing better than watching Frank Colliendo

like just. Like somebody let him just let loose

as John Madden. It's the funniest thing in the

world. Almost as funny as watching Will Sasso

do Stone Cold Steve Austin. Oh, wow. That's that's

crazy. So I think we're going to take a quick

little break here. You're probably going to hear

some Superman audio from somewhere. I don't know

where yet. And we will come back with the final

thoughts and outro. Yeah. Yeah. Because this

time I won't stop until you're just a greasy

smear on my fist Let's go We are back on toy

cast 78 and sorry for us deviating it. It just

kind of happened and honestly, you know Superman

toys They're really I don't know what I was thinking.

I was mainly thinking Oh, I can match the episode

number of the year the film came out and really

Outside of statues and stuff like we were talking

earlier. There really isn't That many Superman

toys we can talk about Well, I mean there's there's

so much out but then there's you know if you

take in accordance the stuff that that came out

in the 30s and 40s in the 50s, you know, and

it's like I I unfortunately know very little

about that stuff because it's Just you know an

oddity to me. I'm like, well that stuff's cool,

but I'll never afford any of it but Yeah but

yeah it's um yeah it's just I don't know I'm

going brain dead over here ladies and gentlemen

which people of this show know it that that's

not a rare thing for me oh man I would say if

you want an accurate I don't think they have

an accurate Superman in the JLU line yet but

if you want an accurate like really cool Superman

I know that DC UC has a couple I think a couple

of the earlier waves they had a couple of supermen

in it, didn't they? The couple of the waves do.

You've got a whole list of supermen. You've got

the black costume superman from The Return and

the comic book series. You've got red and blue

when he was split into two distinct personalities.

There are a number of superman figures out. There's

one that You know there's the long -haired version

of the classic costume now thanks to the oh I

think it was one he was in one of the two packs

with the box set that came out at Walmart that

had him and Batman Batman and Catwoman and and

Lex and stuff in it You know, there's there's

a regular Superman. There's one with his heat

vision His eyes are lit up like he's like he's

got heat vision So I mean there's there's a number

of different Superman figures to to choose from

as well as figures like Ultraman Who was the

oh? alternate universe I was gonna try to peg

it exactly what it was but It's the crisis on

two earths Superman. I guess dear dear God It's

been a long time since I've even read a comic

book. So I sold my collection in like 2006. Oh

But yeah, I mean there's a lot I mean for a Superman

fan whether you're buying Justice League Unlimited

or your buying DCU or even if you're buying World's

Greatest Superheroes right now at Toys R Us,

or at some of the online retailers, there's still

a lot of Supermans on the shelf. Mattel continuously

reissues Superman figures. Not so much in the

regular lines anymore. They were. They were doing

those two figures in each. When they split the

waves up for a while, two figures in each of

the wave were DCU legend figures kind of thing.

But you can still find a lot of those for decent

prices. Yeah, I forgot. Now that you mentioned

two packs, I forgot. There is one way you can

get a fairly decent Superman. Go to Toys R Us

and pick up the DCUC MOTUC two pack. Oh, yeah.

Or you can go over to the Pop Culture Network

store over on popculturenetwork .com and purchase

any number of Superman figures because I know

we've got quite a few of them in the store. Yes.

How come you guys don't have Masters Classics

in the store? Well, that's a funny story. Killing

actually orders quite a few every month. And

I love him. I'm sure I'll take heat for saying

this, but he... Oh, hey dogs. Hey dogs. Down

boys. You want me to edit this? I can edit it.

Nah, that's fine. Gives people more to listen

to. He has gone into this whole grading phase

of his life apparently. Oh yeah, he's talked

about that on It Figures. I know he's still got

quite a few Paul Paul McFurry pants in the store

that he's selling. Oh god. I don't call him by

his real name, he is Paul Paul McFurry. I will

never buy that toy. Oh god, I don't know what

they were thinking. They were like, hey here's

a 2000X figure. We just came on said we won't

be doing any more of yeah But yeah, I mean there's

quite a few masters figures that he has but That

was one of those things where? when they first

started he ordered some and they set and like

we had we had Skeletor and Beastman and he man

and the he man sold but then the Skeletor and

Beastman set set set set and saturated for so

long Yeah, he just didn't order anymore after

that and then they sold and all of a sudden.

It's a hot property That's like we he had a lot

of people asking about them and wanting to buy

them from the store and you know he he's helped,

you know a few of us out a number of times because

You know the man sitting on a stool in the store

all day He can just sit there refresh all day

long the rest. Yeah, you know eight -hour jobs

to work for and stuff Not that killing doesn't

well killing works like 24 hours a day if you

could But no, I mean there there are Masters

figures there's actually Masters DC Universe

two packs So there's quite a bit in the pop culture

network store right now Masters wise And we're

getting girl toys, which makes me happy because

I'll be able to walk into the store and be like

look There's my little ponies on the shelf. What

what? Sorry, it's my my Achilles heel unfortunately

Apparently so mr. Mr. Jessica rabbit and mr.

Miss piggy there, you know those toner dolls

the toner stuff The toner stuff. I don't mind

so much and I don't get a whole lot of heat for

those there there are a lot of people that actually

I mean, there's a lot of people enjoy them and

You know, they look nice. I love I love reviewing

this stuff. I think this stuff's cool I was never

a big actual like doll fan like that but the

fact that they do so many licensed properties,

you know, they're doing Lord of the Rings, they

did Prince of Persia, you know, they're doing

just, you know, the DC Universe stuff, they did,

they did Spider -Man 3 when that film came out.

I mean, there's a lot out there for collectors

to look at and go, hey, that's actually kind

of cool. It's a doll, but it's kind of cool.

So that stuff's not so bad, but it's more of

the actual My Little Ponies and the Rainbow Bride

that I've got sitting on my bookshelf back here

behind me. It's funny you mentioned that because

every now and the only time I ever really watch

Cartoon Network anymore is at 1 p .m. On weekdays

because they show Tom and Jerry cartoons. Oh,

yeah. Yeah, and I've been seeing a lot of strawberry

shortcake commercials for some strange reason

and I don't know why Well, I mean they're they're

pushing that real big. I think Hasbro has the

license back Yeah, they're pushing it because

of the hub coming out. Yep. So I mean it'll be

on the hub starting this, you know, starting

1010. Yeah. So I mean, that that's getting pushed

a lot. My Little Pony is getting pushed a lot

again. You know, they they tried to push Rainbow

Brite. They tried. They brought out a new a new

like updated version of her and and and star

like the horse. And they are still kind of sitting

around in some Toys R Uses. I think some of them

have clearanced them. So it's not not good at

all. But A lot of these companies can't seem

to find their footing when it comes to reinvigorating

retro girl toy lines, you know? They managed

to do it with My Little Pony. Strawberry Shortcake

has changed, I don't know how many times since

it came back out. Well, so has My Little Pony

for that fact, but I mean, you get stuff, you

get other classic stuff like, you know, like

Jim and the Hologram should come back out. And,

you know, they should do a more vintage retro

style Rainbow Brite line for girls or, you know,

even you know these crazy care bears that are

out now that look nothing like the regular care

bears. There's just a lot of stuff that if they

if they quit messing with what worked so well

and just went you know let's let's see what today's

girls little girls will go for like they're going

for Lilo's Pet Shop but if you released Rainbow

Bride or a line of collectible care bears and

stuff like that the teenage girls would go for

more than anyone because Yeah, stuff sells like

hotcakes to them. So No Well, I think we're gonna

close this show way to close the show oh God

I can't believe you said that Oh crap. What's

coming up on the animated world of Flavidaven

Devol? Well, the animated world of Flavidaven

Devol, we are going to be touching base on episode

3. We actually are covering the god -awful Battletoads

animated pilot that was created. Actually, it

was a Fox special. It was pretty awful. From

there, we're gonna branch out. We're actually

going to look at the, speaking of My Little Pony,

we're actually looking at the original pilot

for My Little Pony. We're in the process of covering

Disney's Flappy Dogs, which is something not

a lot of people probably know exists, but it's

one of those odd Disney cartoons that was supposed

to be a part of the Disney, the original part

of the Disney afternoon, and the pilot just didn't

do well. Yeah, and then we're we're actually

gonna be covering a go bots battle of the Rock

Lords, which is a which is a trip So yeah, yeah,

I'm sorry you guys have already as of the we're

recording this Wednesday evening October 6th

I'm assuming you guys have already filmed this

week's coming episode of TNTS, right? Did my

question get answered? Your question did get

answered did Did you guys read it all the way

through? Or did you just say the question because

I specifically put in there, and GoBots suck.

No, we did. And we both gave you, oh, come on,

dude. GoBots aren't that bad. Dude, GoBots suck.

OK, well, see, here's the thing. The GoBots cartoon

is not well done. It is not it is not a pleasant

view. It's a great -looking show because it was

animated by Hannah Barbera So it looks it looks

gorgeous because the late Hannah Barbera stuff

They moved away from doing that, you know doing

basically Filmation stole the whole concept off

of them of reusing frames You know towards the

end there towards the the end of the 80s They

were doing battle, you know challenge with the

go -bots and stuff like that. They look beautiful

The toy line though is a different story because

the toy line is beautiful and simplicity I am

sorry, but just based off of the cartoon designs

and looking at some of the old GoBots stuff,

I understand that GoBots technically came first,

but I'm sorry, Transformers are hands down 110

% better than the GoBots toys. I love Transformers,

but GoBots, as we've said on the show, is always

going to be the poor man's Transformers. Those

are the trans those were the figures you got

when your parents couldn't afford an optimus

prime and no one I know No one that I have ever

met that is our age has been able to look me

in the eye and go That's not true because it's

very very true because the go -bots were cheap.

They were like two bucks a figure Most of like

80 % of them were never bigger than the three

-inch figures that came out So when your parents

went to go get your birthday present to Christmas

presents, you're like I want this $10 transformer.

They're going I'll just buy him a couple of these

$2 go -bots. I Mean that's that's why go -bots

are so enriched in 80s pop culture now is because

Everyone had a go -bot There are people I know

who didn't have transformers, but everybody had

a go -bot even pixel Dan had a go -bot. I Don't

remember I okay Will admit I believe the only

go bot I ever had was leader one the original

leader one. I don't have them anymore and I had

a bunch of transformers granted. I don't remember

having ever having optimus or I believe I had

a Megatron I know I didn't have sound wave because

I was stalking my buddy from one of those but

anyway, um, you know, that's a whole other story

It's just go bots God, and it's funny if you,

and I'm kind of cross running here, if you go

back to Tooncast episode 35, we actually covered

the GoBots cartoon in that, and as of that recording,

which was oh God, months ago, like late last

year I think or something, I don't remember how

long ago it was, but as of that recording, The

Wikipedia article stated that because of Hasbro's

transformers brand we will probably never see

the go the go -bots cartoon on DVD Because it

would interfere with transformers, you know Here's

the thing Warner Brothers those Hannah Barbera

now right am I correct on that I? Think so I

couldn't I can't say for certain even though

Hasbro owns the toy rights I don't think they

own all the media rights to that I could be wrong

Because I want to say that at one time boomerang

ran go -bots episodes for a short while Could

have been I I fully see if there's enough fan

requests out there I fully see that Warner Brothers

as the conglomerate They are with a little time

Warner would be able to go to Hasbro and go you

know what we have more money than you'll ever

see You can sue us. You can do whatever we're

releasing these DVDs Hasbro would go Okay Because

when you think about it Hasbro probably has lost

the rights on a lot of those names I don't think

they've renewed the rights. I know they renewed

the rights on leader one Yeah, stuff like that,

but I don't think they own a lot of the names

anymore. They own the brand Yeah But I could

see that's one of those animated series that

really surprises me that people haven't clamored

for because especially since it's a Hannah Barbera

You would think that Hannah Barbera fans would

would Just be breaking down Warner Brothers doors

because it's one of the the rare I don't see

rare But it's one of the the Hannah Barbera series

that still has never been released to DVD And

I think almost pretty much everything Hannah

Barbera has done to this point To a certain degree

minus some oddities has been released in one

way or another Yeah, because a lot of that stuff

is showing up now on this I see them at Walmart's

all the time these like Saturday morning cartoon

compilation DVDs that are out for Warner Brothers

Oh, yeah, like the 1976 1977 1978 stuff like

that a lot of those odd shows are getting they

may not have full releases But there's episodes

on those DVDs Yeah, there was Saturday morning

Cartoon collection 60s 70s 80s so far I think

and there's like two or three volumes of each

one so Alright, thank you for joining us here

on Toycast. Are you sure we weren't on Tooncast?

Yeah, I'm positive. Sorry. No, it's cool, it's

cool. Yeah, so there are several ways to get

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Let me find that listen to that show and that's

why I'm like I'm pulling up the website now cuz

the numbers right there Do you even use Twitter

at all I don't personally There is a that I know

I know Dan stuff there is an actual that new

toy small Twitter. Oh, I want to say that it's

just T NTS Okay I'm pretty sure that's what it

is. It's been so long since I've actually signed

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That's got Sam's theme for you got to touch on

it, which is awesome With no rap. Thank God.

Thank God. I'm glad he cut that out. Yeah Right

when right before Fallen came out he was trying

to like get that on the soundtrack And I remember

hearing it going, mmm, Stan, you should probably

not have that death rap in there. That's pretty

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We hope you enjoyed this episode of Toycast,

where we... drastically went off topic several

times. Let me cover Superman a little bit, it's

fine. Yes, I wish you'll join us next time. For

now, I am TFG1 Mike with... I am D 'Vaugh from

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until next time. Peace out, people.