VINTAGE CHILDHOOD!

I have been absent for awhile but I have been resting as my busy time of the year is about to begin! At the end of the month I will do my second annual "Star Wars" week on this blog and like last year, I decided to have it coincide with "Force Friday!" Then in October, I will be doing "31 Days of Halloween" (with help this year) once again for the second year in a row, BUT not on this blog (more on that soon) but don't worry new content will be posted here all October long as well. So I am lying low for the most part until then.

Today though, I decided to do a new edition of "Vintage Childhood!" All of these will look familiar as they were all given to me by Brother Midnight in a recent trade.

 MANTENNA (MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, 1985) - MATTEL

I had many MOTU figures in my collection and most of the Horde was a part of that (Hordak, Grizzlor, Leech, Mantenna, Horde Trooper, Catra, and Mosquitor!) Though he was not my favorite, Mantenna did have a great gimmick as his eyes bugged out! I always thought the Horde was much better in appearance than the evil warriors led by Skeletor and Mantenna definitely illustrates why. The monsterous look of the villians just seemed better with the Horde!

 PANDA KHAN (TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, 1990) - PLAYMATES TOYS

The original Playmates TMNT line came up with some pretty wacky mutants and PAnda Khan was suprisingly not one of them. Compared to the likes of Muckman and Wyrm, Panda here is normal. That however does not hurt his cool factor! I not only had Panda Khan but he was a favorite of mine. Like MOTU, I had a lot of the TMNT figures and that was great as I Could rotate "the cast" and do various different arcs with nothing but a couch as a playset. Those were the days. :)

BISHOP (X-MEN, 1993) - TOYBIZ

The X-Men line from Toybiz was the first separate Marvel line. By that I mean the others were part of other properties (Mego), or misc Marvels (Secret Wars, Marvel Superheroes). However when Toybiz launched their Marvel brands, they did not one but two lines: Marvel Superheroes and the X-Men! The line lasted a long time thanks to the cartoon on Fox and then it never stopped being popular. This also helped us to get other lines elike Spidey and the F4! Of course it never hurt that they had cartoons but this was not always the case just ask X-Men 2099, Generation X, the first Avengers line, or Ghost Rider! Though none of them passed the initial one or two waves but at least we got them!

COMMANDER RIKER - FIRST SEASON UNIFORM (STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, 1993) - PLAYMATES TOYS

I loved the TNG and its toyline. This was not the first TNG toyline but definitely the most inclusive. The Playmates line was so popular that they eventually did the original series, the movies, Deep Space 9, and Voyager as well! Most of the line was the 5 inch scale but in the later years Playmates tried to make the 6 inch scale work but that is when I stopped buying as I had no interest in buying the same old figures but in a new scale and I was not alone!

CHEWBACCA (STAR WARS, MISC YEARS) -  KENNER 

Vintage Star Wars was probably one of my first toy collections. Although today's sculpting  has put these to shame (G.I.JOE still looks good with its modern and vintage lines together in my opinion), these will always have a special place in my heart and hope to get more one day! Also, I have no year stated as Kenner (like many other lines did) kept re-releasing the same sculpt for years so although it was first released in the 70's, you could still get this Chewie sculpt in the mid 80s!

 That wraps another edition of "Vintage Childhood, but more is coming soon!