Super 7 Vintage style Fimation Hordak review

Back in 1986(ish) I had to make a stand one Saturday morning in Woolworths. I wanted one of the new Masters of the Universe (MOTU) line, the evil Horde- Mantenna. But my dad had an issue with him, "That's one of the baddies from She-Ra. That's for girls". Do I give in and settle for a less interesting toy? Or do I stand my ground and double down on the rationale that the Horde figures come in the same "boxes" as the other He-man toys? With a combination of supreme logic and expert whining  I'd won him round, and Mantenna was mine. The first of several Horde members I would get as a child. I loved the Horde, they all had unique designs above your average henchman and cool play gimmicks (Grizzlor notwithstanding). I had nearly all of them, except one. Being a pedantic little geek, even at the age of six, I didn't want a Hordak figure because he didn't look like how he did in the cartoon show. Cartoon Hordak had a angular, robot-like face, blue skin and a laser gun arm. Toy Hordak had bad acne on his forehead, gray skin, and red bat thing that rested on his arm.  But 33 years later, Super 7 have corrected that mistake by remaking vintage Hordak in the cartoon design. Will he live up to six-year-old me's expectations?

Lego Movie 2: Benny's Space Squad

Can you hear that? Concentrate and listen really hard, and you can hear the  crying of those people who paid well over the odds for a Benny mini-figure on ebay, back when the Lego movie came out.  For those that couldn't afford the spaceship (or SPACESHIP!) or missed the double sofa set, and had enough sense not to feed the scalper economy, your patience has been rewarded. Good for you!

London Toy Fair 2019: HEO and Revell

Oh, you thought I just took photos of Pop Vinyls before my old legs gave up and I had to go have a sandwich and a nap? Well you (partly) thought wrong. Because not only did I check out some new releases via distributor, HEO and some cool stuff from Revell.

London Toy Fair 2019: Funko

Check us out! I got to go to London Toy Fair this year (good for me) and, along with people from the toy and retail industry- looking to see what might be this year's big seller. So I had a little look  and took some photos of stuff you might be interested in, including some things you may not be aware of yet.

The toys of Christmas passed

Well it's 2018 (yeah, I'm bad at this), I hope you had a fine Christmas and got everything you wanted. I did alright, but when you get to my age (39), your  gifts tend to be socks and body soap sets.  It's during Christmas II tend to reminisce on childhood memories, littered with the elation I felt at opening life-long favourites like Stinkor, Manta Force, Ultra Magnus (with the rubber tyres on the white Optimus Prime), and that crocodile guy from The Get Along Gang. But everyone and their sister does that sort of thing, so allow me the indulgence of treading into more sombre territory by focusing on the toys that never made into my, or your, or anyone's stocking. The toys that didn't appear on the shop shelves because of lack of demand; that one missing character in an otherwise popular line; the toy company going under; or the tie-in media getting cancelled etc.

Cancelled/unmade toys is a subject that's been written about- by people more qualified than I- before, so I wont cover the more well known ones like rocket-firing Boba Fett, Niko from the Galaxy Rangers, and that mountain playset where the Visionaries were supposed to go on their holidays. Instead my list of toys are the never were, almost was, and could never be, so the following is a  more personal and esoteric list than an encyclopedia of toylines/companies that went out of business, or digging up painful childhood memories. Let the disappointment commence!

Hot Toys Cosbaby Ellen Ripley review

Well this was a bit of a surprise. I knew Hot Toys- they have cornered the market on high quality, high price action figures- had branched out into vinyl figures with their "Cosbaby" line. But I had no idea there was an Aliens series in the line. More so when I chanced upon them on the shelf of my local Forbidden Planet. "Well", I thought, "it is an anniversary year. Get that Sigourney in!" So how does this vinyl figure float in a sea of Pop Vinyls?

Cult Vinyl Judge Dredd review

When Dredd 3D came out in the cinemas, one thing that was sadly missing (apart from box office success) was the lack of  merchandise one comes to expect from a comic book movie. But recently, there's been a statue of Karl Urban's Dredd, an unofficial 1/6 scale figure, and now a vinyl figure. Take that, Judge Dredd bubble buddie! There's just one catch...