24 replies to this topic

[plasticfiend]

Maybe some of you have seen this article before... I think I read it last year or something, but I came across it again and thought it was a fun read as some of those toys I had genuinely forgotten about!

 

http://www.x-enterta...ssages/626.html

 

Although, I certainly wouldn't consider ARMY ANTS forgotten... nor Manglor Mountain but the rest are fun!

 

PF

 

[dixiebull]

Cool little article, but like you said, toys weren't that obscure. I already knew what all of them were....I had a few as a kid too. I loved Mantech especially out of this list. 

[plasticfiend]

I had a single Mantech figures an thought it was one of the coolest things ever.  Never messed with anything else from the line... but man I loved that thing! 

 

(I had the purple and black guy/ w the white head)

 

PF

[steverotters]

Obscure:

1. not well-known

2. not known to most people

3. likely to be understood by only a few people

 

 

C'mon, those examples would be quite obscure to nearly anyone who was not a little boy growing up in the in the 80s (and too poor for the name-brand toys) or a toy collector today. 

 

I had one Super Natural and a handful of Army Ants.  All the rest are unknown to me. And I'm of the era. 

 

Anyway, thanks for the link. 

 

Oh yeah, there is one toyline deserving of the list that I thought about a few months ago and actually ID'ed.  I didn't write it down though. Anyway, it was MOTU-sized skeletons in army gear.  It was mostly a dark colored figure, but the bones were painted GID.  It's not Skeleton Warriors.  This was more of a Vietnam look.  This is the toy that I remember the most besides Mysterians and Rock Lords and Gobots. Poor kid toys.

 

  Someone here will know what I am talking about. 

[SubwayRats]

There should be a article on poor kid toys of the 80's. Hell that's why I loved muscle so much. They were cheap and I could get a bunch. Poor kid toy suprem

Edited by SubwayRats, 30 May 2015 - 07:06 AM.

[Rubberhammer]

Oh yeah, there is one toyline deserving of the list that I thought about a few months ago and actually ID'ed. I didn't write it down though. Anyway, it was MOTU-sized skeletons in army gear. It was mostly a dark colored figure, but the bones were painted GID. It's not Skeleton Warriors. This was more of a Vietnam look. This is the toy that I remember the most besides Mysterians and Rock Lords and Gobots. Poor kid toys.

Someone here will know what I am talking about.

Nightmare Warriors?

[plasticfiend]

Obscure:
1. not well-known
2. not known to most people
3. likely to be understood by only a few people
 
 
C'mon, those examples would be quite obscure to nearly anyone who was not a little boy growing up in the in the 80s (and too poor for the name-brand toys) or a toy collector today. 
 
I had one Super Natural and a handful of Army Ants.  All the rest are unknown to me. And I'm of the era. 
 
Anyway, thanks for the link. 
 
Oh yeah, there is one toyline deserving of the list that I thought about a few months ago and actually ID'ed.  I didn't write it down though. Anyway, it was MOTU-sized skeletons in army gear.  It was mostly a dark colored figure, but the bones were painted GID.  It's not Skeleton Warriors.  This was more of a Vietnam look.  This is the toy that I remember the most besides Mysterians and Rock Lords and Gobots. Poor kid toys.
 
  Someone here will know what I am talking about.

I didn't remember the Super Natural figures until I started googling them. Then one of them looked really looked familiar... The short one that looks like a cloak or wizard or something. They remind me of Visionaries and I definitely had one of those.

The Super Naturals look pretty cool in retrospect. And not too pricey on Ebay.

PF

[steverotters]

Yeah, Nightmare Warriors.  I had only Major Bones as a kid (and none as an adult), but here is a pic of the full set.

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•  nightmare-warriors2.jpg   79.69K   2 downloads
•  nightmare-warriors.jpg   72.91K   2 downloads

[plasticfiend]

Yeah, Nightmare Warriors.  I had only Major Bones as a kid (and none as an adult), but here is a pic of the full set.

Those are super cool... Like an entire line of Skeletors!!

PF

[dixiebull]

Those are awesome, and pretty valuable on the second hand market too. I never had any as a kid, but after digging into all the various motu knockoff toys online a few years ago, I am pretty familiar with all of them. I swear, I just love bootleg knockoff stuff more than the real deal! Anyways, I know that to many those toys might be considered obscure, but regardless of my toy collecting knowledge, I know that there are even more obscure toy lines out there that could have been featured. A great example is the Animax line we were all introduced to recently after I had my silver rhino helm identified. I never knew anything about those toys but they ended up to be really cool. I would just love to see a list like that...super ultimate obscure toys that hardly no one knows about. Maybe there is a killer list out there waiting somewhere....

Edited by dixiebull, 30 May 2015 - 06:56 PM.

[steverotters]

...super ultimate obscure toys that hardly no one knows about.

 

I bet a lot of this stuff is just regional.  Before Wal-Mart, TRU, and Target ruled the world there were so many department stores, variety stores, and regional chains.  Toylines were distributed in smaller, limited areas.  In other words, what is obscure to someone may be very familiar to someone else -- even in the same era -- just because they grew up in different areas.  We know this is the case internationally, but probably also the case within much smaller regions.

[MantisFang]

Mysterians is one toy line that I think is pretty obscure and for the most part forgotten..

[steverotters]

Yeah man!  I had 3 of those and one not show.  It was red. The yellow cube dude was one of my favorite toys as a kid.

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Edited by steverotters, 31 May 2015 - 12:09 AM.

[MantisFang]

This is the red dude. One of the coolest of the bunch for sure.

[steverotters]

I've come to realize that, as a kid, I never had a complete set of anything.  Ever.  I don't think I even thought of things as being part of a complete or finite set.  If that makes any sense.  I also have no recollection of any packaging relating to the toys that I had.  Of course, a kid usually just wants to rip open the package and get the toy as soon as humanly possible. But, I also think that it's probably in a parent's best interest to throw away the packaging ASAP too, so the kid has no reminder of what he doesn't have.  I can't remember ever thinking that I had to "collect them all" or whatever.  I'm really surprised I had 4 of 6 of these.  They must have been really cheap.  I never knew about the gray one or the squarish black one.  The blue one I had and hated -- he was just so puny.  The other three I really, really loved.  Memories.  Haha. 

Edited by steverotters, 31 May 2015 - 03:36 AM.

[dixiebull]

That is what I am talking about right there! That is a toy I have never seen or heard of in my entire life. That is certainly obscure. I think you are onto something with the regional dime store possibility. I mean this stuff all had different distributors that couldn't or wouldn't put their products into certain areas or stores...and being pre internet or frankly pre anything other than the occasional comic book ad or tv commercial, how else but on the store shelf were we to find these toys? The cheapo ones didn't even get advertising hardly at all anyway. 

[Fuzz]

Speaking of Marchon, anyone remember Roadbots? I had Hookor (unfortunate name) as a kid.

http://www.battlegri...m/?tag=roadbots


Another fun transformer knockoff line was Convertors. They had insects, birds, and other oddballs like a pinball machine, cash register, etc.

http://www.toyarchiv...Convertors.html

Edited by Fuzz, 01 June 2015 - 06:50 PM.

[plasticfiend]

WOW!  Check out Colt on the Converter toy line... and to think the original Megatron design raised some controversy being a gun... Colt looks SUPER real!

 

http://www.toyarchiv...tors/Spies.html

 

 

PF

[Draznar]

I absolutely LOVE Body Wars! I own 4/6 sets, and I'm aiming to find the card art to take some better scans of it. It needs to be preserved!

http://www.spectrumi.../body_wars.html

[steverotters]

Here is a Body Wars card from ebay:

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•  bodywars2.JPG   157.52K   5 downloads

[plasticfiend]

Here is a Body Wars card from ebay:

 

 

I've never seen those before... the art on the card is pretty awesome!

 

PF

[Draznar]

Here is a Body Wars card from ebay:

 

Goddamn! That is one of the ones I need!

[ironmask]

For me, the greatest forgotten toyline/underrated toyline, is Fistful of Aliens. Hands down. It doesn't get nearly enough credit for being as cool as it was, probably because the market is all jacked up/inflated.

[dixiebull]

Wow, I have never seen body wars either. What year did those come out? Were they released stateside, or a foreign toy? I like the similarities between the skull pod and madballs. The little figures are cool too. 

[plasticfiend]

For me, the greatest forgotten toyline/underrated toyline, is Fistful of Aliens. Hands down. It doesn't get nearly enough credit for being as cool as it was, probably because the market is all jacked up/inflated.

 

Like the prices are high on FOA?

(asking as a layman... don't know much about the line)

 

PF