Dinky Toys!

As a buildup-to-Xmas special, here are my favorite pages from the 1974 Dinky catalog. I started scouting for Dinky catalogs when JPX discovered PlaidStallions with all of its Corgi catalog action. Corgi toys were okay, but prior the debut of Star Wars figures Dinky toys were the vein of pure gold running through my toy collection -- the undisputed alpha toys.

Some guy named Ralf Zeigermann in the UK has this small collection of one Dinky and three Corgi catalogs (the other two of his Dinky links don't work). Not a very comprehensive resource, really, except that the 1974 Dinky catalog was THE Dinky catalog, if you get my meaning.

And this here, pages 4 and 5, was THE spread.  I would eventually have five of the nine toys featured here. My first was the Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle in the upper left of page 5, followed by Thunderbird 2 and FAB 1, and later by the U.F.O. Interceptor and Shado 2 Vehicle. I still kind of pine for the white Spectrum Maximum Security Vehicle; I look at them on ebay now and again. They're either really beat up or expensive.

Of the ones I have, most are in good to decent shape. I know the FAB 1's dome is cracked and I personally pried out the Parker and Lady Penelope figures. The SPV, unfortunately, is a stripped hulk of a toy. Those little rubber tires come off, and because kids like to take things off they all vanished. Well, not completely. At one point I noticed the SPV and the FAB 1 had the same tires, so I cannibalized a couple from the former to fully tire the Rolls.

One of my other Dinkys is the MRCA seen above, with "swing-wings." Kind of an odd choice, but then again the only place I remember ever seeing Dinky toys for sale was in the toy store at the Mystic Seaport next to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. I'm sure it was an overpriced little touristy shop and I remember specifically that they each cost ten dollars, which was of course huge money. The problem with the MRCA was that the wings and the landing gear were on the same lever, so if the wings were sticking out the landing gear was down. Kinda lame.

I've included these two pics because I recall drooling over that hovercraft again and again. The military one is cooler but the red one was pretty temptatious as well. But I never saw either one.

Black Friday

If you're not familiar with the term, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, which is always the single heaviest shopping day of the year. The name was supposedly coined by those who work in retail, hence the negativism. For them, it's a suck day. For a lot of people, it's a day of opportunity.

For toy geeks, it's often a day where new stuff is on the shelves. On Black Friday in 1995, JPX and I got up super early to hit the stores. Toys R Us opened at 7 am, and we were there. But they didn't have what we wanted. What we wanted: In anticipation of the Special Editions of the original Star Wars trilogy coming out, new Star Wars figures were being made for the first time in twenty years. The first wave of the new figures was just kicking around that autumn, and the hard ones to find were 3PO and Princess Leia. Jeff wanted the princess and I wanted the droid.

So we headed next door to the Swansea Mall, which was open to the public before the stores lifted their security gates. Sure enough, right on the other side of the gate to Kay Bee Toy and Hobby was a display of Star Wars figs, and right in the front was a 3PO and a Leia. The store wouldn't open for another 45 minutes, so JPX and I used the time to head to the nearby Walmart in Seekonk.

Walmart was disappointing, but worse than that, when we got back to Kay Bee there was a big ol' nerd parked right on the other side of the gate from the SW rack. Damn! This was a pretty typical example of our ilk: about 300 pounds of misfit stuffed into an army jacket that I'm sure hung on a hook in his parents' basement. I sidled up next to him as best I could and stood silently in the gathering crowd, poised like a gunslinger for when it was time to make my move. Soon a noisy guy showed up behind me, going "maaaan, look at all the people. Hey, what are you trying to get? What about you? How about you, dude?" The big nerd reluctantly spoke up: "oh, 3PO, the Princess...the hard-to-get ones." I grinned to myself. He had broken his poker face facade, clearly he had tipped his advantage. I set my gaze ahead and waited.

During all this I was assuming that when go time came, an employee would come up to the gate and turn a key on the floor, saying "let's take it easy people." But no. They stayed behind the counter and pressed a button somewhere. Suddenly the gate was rising past the toes of my boots. I made a split-second calculation: clearly I'd surrendered all dignity by just being here this early in the morning, I might as well get what I came for. When the gate was about two feet high, I flattened and zipped underneath it. Grab! 3PO in one hand. Grab! Princess Leia in the other. Fwoosh! Suddenly I was in the middle of a tight sea of people, clawing at the rack. I turned around and looked at JPX, triumphantly holding the two figs above the scrambling mass around me. His huge grin reflected the one I felt on my own face. Success! Blissful success.

I estimated I had two or three whole seconds with the rack to myself. On the way out, I stopped and got myself an R2D2, a fig that had been out for a while and was not hard to get. The noisy guy was still there, talking, and I heard him say "man, that first guy just flew!" Jeff and I rode that high for the rest of the holiday, and in a way we're still riding it.

This has become my signature story of just how committed a nerd I am.

Good times.

The Clone Wars Wave 5 stinks

FX-6 from Revenge of the Sith

I had this in my hands today and then put it down for some reason. Now I want it.

2009!

Images of next year's Lego sets are on the rampage! I'm especially excited about the Jedi Starfighter above because 1) I want an Ahsoka minifig but she's currently only available in two 90 dollar sets, 2) I'm psyched about the dark red astromech body/legs because the V-wing came with a dark red head but no body; I can't wait to evict Ahsoka's dumb white and green one for a nice red R2 unit, and 3) It just looks like a cool set. I like those decorated wedges.

Compared to these images, my 2008 Holiday catalog that Lego mailed me looks stale and old. I'm in the same funny place with Lego sets that I am with JLU figs: I go scouting for stuff in the stores and I've already got everything (unless I want to drop HUGE Lego bucks, but I don't).

I probably won't go for this set, but seeing it is exciting.

These new Power Miner sets have an unfortunate color scheme, but this one at least has those great drill/wheel parts.

And they're bringing back Pirates! Again, I'm not excited because I want the sets per se, but the excitement of the other Lego freaks is infectious. And I am SO all over that dark red octopus. And it's in a cheap set! Totally getting that.

Go here for a good look at new Spongebob, Star Wars, Power Miners, Bionicle, Farm, and more. Go here to see the pirates.

Remember, they say 2009 but actually some of these will come out a week or two before X-mas. Better watch out!

JLU so far

Upcoming Clone Wars droid

Finally, a Star Wars wave I can get behind!

Cool, more cantina denizens!!!

Respect my Authority

I still haven't found this 3-pack yet but it really irks me that it comes with yet another Flash and Wonder Woman. How many of them do I have now, like 10 each?

Got my Castle Advent Calendar!

This wasn't intended to be sold in the US at all, which sucks when you check out the exclusive and very cool minifigs it comes with (below). But the good people at The Brothers Brick (my favorite Lego blog) and other online Lego geekoids put enough pressure on the Lego group that they sold a limited amount starting at noon EST today. I was all over it, got the special code from the blog and called their asses at 9:00 PST sharp. And it's on the way! (If you're interested, follow the link to TBB.)

Battlestar Galactica vehicles I never knew existed

Colonial Scarab




Colonial Stellar Probe

Lucifer was a silly action figure

Photos from Cooltoyreview.

C-3PX Build a Droid Factory figure stinks

Brix Blox look like something your grandmother would buy

From retrothing, I was a lucky "early adopter" of Lego. My father brought some back from a business trip when I was a boy, and that started me on a lifelong fascination with this classic construction toy. Back then Lego was expensive and hard to find, so it's only natural that giant retailer Sears would try to copy that success with Brix Blox.

To be perfectly correct, Sears didn't create Brix Blox. It's a relabeled version of "Loc Blocs" by Entex (a famous maker of handheld electronic games). Remember that Sears used to demand that anything sold in their retail chain stores be relabeled with a Sears house brand. So Brix Blox were included as part of Sears' "Little Learners" toy line.


The shape and size of the bricks is clearly patterned after Lego, though the two aren't compatible. There are also far fewer specialty shapes like windows and wheels.The pieces don't have the same precision snap fit that Lego does, so I found the models to be a bit less sturdy.

Loc Blocs were manufactured in the 70's and 80's (I even found photos of a Smurf themed set). I'm not sure when this set dates from, but perhaps since the pieces are all red, white and blue, perhaps they're from around 1976? I'm surprised that Loc Blocs existed as long as they did, given Lego's protection of their patented (since expired) construction bricks. In the 80's, Lego became somewhat more affordable and featured many more specialized and sophisticated pieces than the competition - so I guess that it wasn't enough for Loc Blocs (or Brix Blox or whatever) to merely be cheaper.

I don't see many Loc Bloc fans around today (Lego forums are notorious for their dislike of other Lego-like building toys). These days the other brands of snap-together building blocks are fully compatible with the Lego originals, so no one has to settle for an also-ran off-brand that doesn't fit anything else.

Selective Index for Jeff & Jeff's Pandemonium

Iconic images


Roundup of original Star Wars figure blister card backs

Scans of choice Sears Wish Book pages, one and two

Boba Fett's first product appearance


General Toy Coverage


Uzay! Hilarious Turkish Star Wars knockoff figs

A look at Kenner's aborted Star Wars products from the mid '80's

A Star Wars figure collector's primer

Complete stupid history of Kenner's Droid Factory/Jabba's Dungeon playset

The Hal Jordan JLU figure so ultra-rare it might as well not exist at all

Star Wars Survival Kit remembered

Super Powers figured remembered, including the unreleased 4th wave

Battle Beasts remembered

Matchboxes Mobile Action Command (M.A.C.) remembered


JPX and Octo

JPX sighted on West Coast

A young Octopunk poses in front of a tantalizing rack of POTF figures

A younger JPX and family's 15 seconds of fame

Old Star Wars figs vs. New Star Wars figs: JPX weighs in, Octopunk weighs in

JPX's favorite Super Powers figures

Octopunk's favorite Super Powers figures

Octopunk's review of toy losses, both resolved and unresolved

The story of Octopunk snagging JPX a free Blue Snaggletooth

Octopunk drools over Star Wars animated maquettes, parts one, two,
three and four.

A roundup of upcoming SW figs that leads to a long hilarious discussion on the comment board, and also...

Octopunk whined at by lousy Biker Scout figure

Much later, Octopunk admonished by Black Bespin figure

Octopunk gets excited because his toys arrive from the East Coast (including his Shadow Thunder Cab)

Octopunk gets excited because he completes a Kaiyodo Chocolasaur set

Octopunk gets excited because he decides to special order those two Astromech droid collections and then they arrive

Octopunk shows off his Astromech droid collection

Lego Stuff

Cool story about Lego pieces in special colors

Some guy online imitates one of Octopunk's Lego designs

Toy Modifications

Lushros Dofine's arm is modified

Who the hell designed this ride?

Legos finally make it to Massachusetts!

LEGO Store Grand Opening Celebration
at South Shore Plaza, Braintree, MA
October 11 - 13
Mark your calendar for the Grand Opening Celebration of the new LEGO Store at South Shore Plaza!

The highlight of the weekend is our 3-day Master Builder Event, where LEGO fans of all ages are invited to help a real LEGO Master Builder construct an 8-ft tall LEGO Yoda™ model! This event is free and fun for the whole family, and everyone who participates will get a free LEGO Star Wars Certificate of Achievement, while supplies last, plus a LEGO Store coupon!

Event Hours:
Saturday, October 11: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Sunday, October 12: 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Monday, October 13: 11:00 am - 7:00pm
Macy's Court

Plus, on Sunday October 12:
Be one of the first 300 customers to spend $35 in the LEGO Store and you'll receive an exclusive, limited-edition LEGO Baseball Player set! This set was created just for the opening of our South Shore Plaza Store, and is not available for sale! The baseball player features a red hat, red socks, white uniform and even includes home plate!

And, on Monday October 13:
Be one of the first 300 customers to spend $35 in the LEGO Store and you'll receive an exclusive, limited-edition LEGO Minifigure T-Shirt! These shirts are available in child's sizes only, and were created exclusively to mark the Grand Opening of the South Shore Plaza LEGO Store!

South Shore Plaza
250 Granite St
Braintree, MA 02184

Index! And other announcements...

1) I totally want to get my Top Ten Favorite Action Figures of All Time post done before Horrorthon starts, but my list of possibilities is huge! I may do a top ten, an 11th to 20th best, and then a bunch of honorable mentions.

2) Links! I persevered through a bit of Blogger's bitchiness and got our links sidebar back up in shape. This included a review of old posts that had some good links.

3) Index! While I was reviewing our old stuff, I came across some great posts that I thought should be revisited, and so I decided to cobble together an index in another post. When I'm done I'll put the link for the post in the sidebar, and we can add more stuff to it as we see fit.

I'm so glad we've revitalized this blog, I really enjoy it.

Tim Goddard’s Star Wars LEGO Diorama

From slashfilm, Tim Goddard’s Star Wars lego diorama “Rebel Attack” measures 30 by 50 inches (about 1:200 scale) and took almost a year to build. The diorama shows a Rebel attack on an Imperial base and mining installation.

See more here

Which one is creepier?

If you walk past this row of dolls, you flip their motion detectors and they all start talking to you -- but because you walk past each one a fraction of a second after the last one, they sound off as eerie echoes of each other. The background noise in this video makes it difficult to hear, but I found a row of these hell children in two different Targets, so you might want to wander down the girls' aisle and check it out in person.

I took Clone Wars Yoda down from the peg to contemplate whether he was purchase-worthy, and hell NO he isn't! He's freaky looking! Nein danke.