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All posts for the month March, 2011

REVIEW – MEDICOM GIZMO VCD (Prop Size)

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 28, 2011
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , , .

Gizmo is the cute and adorable Mogwai creature from both Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch films. Unlike the other Mogwai’s spawned from Gizmo when he touches water, Gizmo is very kind in nature; whereas all other Mogwai’s tend to be mischievous or vicious.

Name: Gizmo
Line: Vinyl Collectible Dolls
Manufacturer: Medicom Toy
Released: 2011
Price: Then: $220. Now: $450 MISB Minimum.
Scale: 1:1
Accessories: None

I found out about this particular Gizmo figure a while ago and after learning about how cool it looked I wanted to get one. Checking out eBay they were quite expensive and I could not justify the heavy price tag of at least $450 for this particular figure. So I decided to wait until I went back to Japan and hopefully buy one from the source. As luck would have it I managed to find one at Mandarake Shibuya for a great price and unopened too. Needless to say it was an instant buy for me. I’ve finally got around to reviewing Gizmo after having him in my collection for a few years now.

SCULPTING
Even though Gizmo is covered in a fur body suit, parts like the face, ears, hands and feet are sculpted. The sculpting is quite detailed and looks very faithful to the source material. He definitely looks cute and cuddly. The fur body suit is great too; the fur looks and feels really nice and not cheap at all, which you would think it would, considering this is meant to a high-end recreation of how Gizmo looks in the movie. I feel the look of Gizmo is based more on the second movie then the first.


PAINT
What paint we have, mainly on the sculpted parts, is excellent. It looks really good and mimics the fleshly parts of Gizmo not covered in fur, really well. I can’t fault it at all, it’s top-notch.

ARTICULATION
Gizmo does feature a bit of articulation, but by no means is he super poseable. Gizmo has a ball jointed head, swivel arms, swivel wrists, swivel crotch and swivel feet. The head and arm articulation is great and you can achieve a good number of poses suitable for Gizmo. The leg articulation is pretty pointless and really just helps make Gizmo not feel like a statue, from the waist down. It’s nice it’s there, but it’s not necessary. Gizmo also features moveable eyes as well, a small lever hidden at the back of the head when moved either left or right, move the eyes either left or right, it’s a pretty cool feature, even if a little limited, but adds a lot to Gizmo, in my opinion.

ACCESSORIES
This particular version of Gizmo doesn’t come with anything, unlike newer releases like the Santa version (2012) or the 3D Glasses version (2013). But that’s ok, because I like Gizmo just the way he is – without gimmicks, he doesn’t need.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
Nothing I can really think of. However, just me careful with the fur, perhaps it might deteriorate if it’s not looked after properly.

PRICE
I paid around the original retail price of 25,000 Yen, I was lucky enough to find one on my second trip to Japan and my wife went halves with me, because she loves Gizmo too. It’s going to be very hard to find one at that price anymore as they have skyrocketed quite a bit and rightfully so. If you can get one below $400 you are doing all right.

OVERALL
I really feel this is the most perfect version of Gizmo any company is going to make as it looks incredibly close to the source material and looks very impressive due to its 1:1 scale size. Nothing else out there comes close to being this good! If you can find one at a decent price, I highly recommend picking it up, even more so if you are a big Gremlins fan! Medicom definitely have the market cornered when it comes to the best Gremlins figure, no one else comes close to making anything this good.

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This page copyright 2014 Mike’s Toy Blog. All rights reversed.

RETRO REVIEW – KENNER JURASSIC PARK YOUNG T-REX

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 21, 2011
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , .

The Young T-Rex was one of the many dinosaurs released for Kenner’s original Jurassic Park line of toys, based on the hit movie. Even although the young T-Rex never appeared in the first movie, it did appear in the novel and was sort of a cheaper alternative to the full sized T-Rex from the same line, but never the less, still cool in it’s own right.

Name: Young T-Rex
Line: Jurassic Park
Manufacturer: Kenner
Released: 1993
Price: First released – $30 AUD (guestimate). Now – varies $200-$450 MIB
Scale: 6 Inches in height
Accessories: JP Collector card #1.

I have a little bit of a long story about my original Young T-Rex (it’s not this one in the photos) that I owned as a kid (so I’ll try and keep it short). One night one of our family cats decided to have a fight with my Young T-Rex and rip up most of his face, needless to say I wasn’t very happy about this, but kept the toy anyway.

But you can bet what was at the top of my Christmas wish list that year – yes, that’s right a Jurassic Park Young T-Rex.

Unfortunately what I ended up receiving was the Triceratops from the series instead, although happy with it, it wasn’t what I wanted so badly. (The surprise of also receiving a G2 Megatron took away some of that let down, however)

Skip to years later and I decided I wanted to re-claim that part of my childhood and purchase a new Young T-Rex for myself, which is what I went and did, although this was a few years ago now. I decided I may as well review him now, in all his mid-1990s glory.


SCULPTING
This T-Rex has always had one of the more amazing sculpts out of the plethora of dinosaur toys my brother and I had as children. I’ve always loved how cool it looked and how much it evoked the look of the movie T-rex, even if on a smaller scale then the larger version (owned by my brother). There are a lot of great details here – skin folds, scales, claws, every little bit of detail looks great. Whoever sculpted this for Kenner went above and beyond in my book, kudos to them!

PAINT
The paint on the Young T-Rex is kept to a minimum, mainly skin pattern and things like the claws or the white underbelly of the dinosaur. That’s fine with me, I feel the base colour of the figure works great, it doesn’t even need a wash to bring it up either. All the paint apps are nice and neat, no problems there, just watch out for paint rub on the figure.

ARTICULATION
The Young T-Rex doesn’t have much of anything in the way of articulation, only his little arms, which are swivel joints and can be rotated 360 degrees without any problem. the T-Rex’s whole body is bendable, due to the rubber, but it doesn’t hold any poses, unfortunately.

The Young T-Rex also has a “Dino Damage” feature where a section of the side of the dinosaur can be removed to show internal organs, its cool, but never something I bothered too much with.

ACCESSORIES
None. Unless you are counting that collector card and I wouldn’t count that.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
There isn’t too much to watch out for here, besides paint rub and perhaps tears in the rubber body, discoloration maybe?

Dino Damage!

PRICE
I paid a decent price for a new mint in box, even although I can’t remember how much I know it wasn’t over $250. This figure was important to me, so I was happy to pay a bit more for one that was going to be in excellent condition and this one did not disappoint.

Don’t forget kids, if your dinosaur has the JP logo on it, then it’s a genuine Jurassic Park dinosaur!

OVERALL
I think the Young T-Rex toy is great, it has really excellent sculpting, nice paint application, even if it’s limited in actual play value. I’d still take this over anything Hasbro has put out for the most recent movie any day of the week. If you are a fan of Kenner’s Jurassic Park line (and who wouldn’t be?) or just dinosaurs in general, I’m sure you’ll be able to find a spot for this guy in your collection, if you already haven’t.

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This page copyright 2016 Mike’s Toy Blog. All rights reversed.

RETRO REVIEW – McDONALD’S CHANGEABLES

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 6, 2011
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , , .

McDonalds Changeables were Happy Meal toys, first available in the United States during the 1980’s and then Australia during 1990. The Australian version consisted of a set of four transformer type toys, which changed from McDonald’s products to robots. The set varied from the US releases as it contained less toys and slight re-molding as well as colour changes.


Name: Changeables
Line: McDonald’s Happy Meal toy
Manufacturer: McDonalds
Released: 1990
Price: Then: comes free with a happy meal. Now: $30-$60 for a set, depending on condition
Scale: 2 -3.5  Inches in height
Accessories: instructions

You would be pretty hard pressed to find a kid from the 1980s up until now that has never gotten a toy from a happy meal. As a kid I remember every now and then my brother and I would get a happy meal toy, sometimes the whole set if we were lucky. But thankfully my parents never took us to McDonalds all the time! (It’s just not healthy eating after all.) One such McDonald’s toy I do remember were the Changeables, Being a big transformer fan as a kid, it’s hard to not to get excited about getting more transformer type toys. These toys weren’t too bad either; they were made well and looked fairly cool.

One thing I found interesting after doing some research was that between American and Australian Happy meal toys there are some differences, Firstly we tended to get less toys per series in most cases, like the Changeables and Fry-Kids sets. (In the Fry-Kids case the toys were even smaller then the US release.) Also, with the Changeables we not only got different colours for some of the toys, (Big Mac and cheese burger) but a re-moulded toy as well (Shake/soft drink cup) which has a friendlier face, that seems exclusive to Australia. It has been hard to find much info on the Australian release of Happy Meal toys, than it was for the American line.

This review is for the full set of the Changeables.

SCULPTING

The sculpting for the toys is great. They look very close to the products they are meant to represent and have a very professional look to them, considering they are  “cheap Happy Meal toys”. They have lots of smooth surfaces, with little bits of detail here and there. For the food mode there is no mistaking what each toy is meant to be, it’s very clear that we have a Big Mac, Cheese burger, Shake and large Fries. For the robot mode each toy has an overall cute and friendly look to them, with only the Big Mac and fries looking somewhat unhappy. No evil robots to be had here.

The Big Mac, fires and cheeseburger are all the same sculpting seen in the American release; the shake however, is different. I’m fairly certain that a shake was released with the same transformation in America, but a less friendly face. This one, on the other hand, has a much more welcoming appearance, and I like it more. One thing these robots are lacking are legs. Besides the fries, the rest only have arms, a head and the suggestion of legs, if anything. The Big Mac and cheeseburger in particular don’t have really anything.

PAINT

What paint there is, is crisp and well applied. In most cases the part is cast in the colour its meant to be. The paint is mainly used for detailing the cheese or burger patty in food mode and for adding some contrast in robot mode. The colour selections are nice and better then their US counter-parts, in my opinion. Far more detail and care went into the painting of the Australian versions. For example, on the cheeseburger there is a brown spray on top for the burger, where as the American version is just plain boring orange plastic.


TRANSFORMATION

McDonald’s version of transformers aren’t going to be very difficult to transform. You don’t even need the instructions for them. Even as a kid it was always very easy to change them from robot to food and back again. In most cases it’s only three steps and you’re done. Sixshot these toys are not. No challenge here, even for kids.

ARTICULATION

These toys don’t really have articulation so to speak, as it’s mostly part of the transformation sequence that gives them articulation. For example, the cheeseburgers’ arms can be moved, but only because of his transformation that they have that option. Regardless in most cases, the arms are the only articulation you are going to get with these toys. They are intended for small children after all.

ACCESSORIES

None.  Come on, did you really expect guns and firing missiles coming out of these things? It would have been a nice addition if they did.

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Nothing that I can think of besides paint chips due to play wear

PRICE

I paid $40 AUD for the set and I am happy with that, seeing this set was only available in Australia. It is hard to find these toys in good condition, as most have been played with and there’s no point in wasting your money on it.

OVERALL

One thing about McDonald’s Happy Meal toys is that they won’t ever really go up in value too much. Another thing is that they won’t be for everyone either. But I’m sure there are plenty of collectors out there that like these toys and enjoy having them in their collection, like me. I quite enjoy the simplicity of the toys and the designs are quite good. Not to mention that nostalgia hit I get from looking at them. It takes me back to a time when McDonald’s wasn’t all “healthy focused” and still tasted “good”, a taste I’ve only found similar to what I remembered from McDonald’s bought in Japan.

This page copyright 2013 Mike’s Toy Blog. All rights reversed.

REVIEW – KONATSU NEGORA

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 4, 2011
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , .

Negora is a small Godzilla like feline originating from Japanese company KONATSU and also produced by American company MAX TOY CO.

Name: Negora
Line: N/A
Manufacturer: Konatsu/Max Toy Co.
Released: 2010
Price: 3,150 YEN – MIB
Scale: 4 – 5 inches height
Accessories:  N/A – Max Toy Co version comes with a fish.

In a recent trip to Japan, mostly for family business, I will always make time for toy hunting, Being in Japan how can you not resist the urge? I’ve found a fair number of good places to visit, mainly through toy guides found on the internet or the very helpful Tokyo Underground by Super 7.

It was during one of these outings – to Sibuya  and the Mandrake store there, while browsing through the many soft vinyl figures on display, (mainly looking for Ryusei Ninjas) that I came across this Negora. I’ve only just recently gotten into Japanese soft vinyl figures or Sofubi, so I had a little bit of an idea what there is available from companies like RealxHead etc, there’s some pretty cool stuff out there, if you can find it!

I liked the design and being a cat person I decided to pick this one up (Btw I did end up buying a black Ryusei Ninja for 1,200 YEN too)

SCULPTING

The figure is very nicely sculpted, I would have to say in an anime style, there is some nice detailing on the stomach and around the face as well as other small sections on the figure, It’s in a standing pose with it’s arms outstretched and mouth slightly open.

I quite like this sculpt, its very cute and the two tails and Godzilla like scales or “ruffles” as I call them along the back are very cool! The tails do a great job of keeping Negora upright.

PAINT 

Negora is cast in a white base colour with greys and blacks added to most of the body to mimic fur patterns, according to the back of the box, translated by my always helpful wife, that the patterns are created by the fish that Negora eats.

There is some yellow for the eyes, red mouth, striking blue and red for the scales on the back, as well as pink for the nose, ears and paws. All the paint is expertly applied and there is no slop at all.

ARTICULATION

there is only one joint here and that’s a cut waist which swivels 360 degrees it adds a little play value and doesn’t look  too out of place, I don’t find it too distracting.

ACCESSORIES

Nothing. It would be nice to have a fish for Negora, But this isn’t a Max Toy Co version.  

POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

Not really anything I can think of, unless you somehow scratch the paint, this is one rock solid toy.  

PRICE

3,150 YEN was fine by me, it’s roughly 35-45 AUD and no shipping costs because I bought it back in my suitcase – always a good thing 


OVERALL

I really like Negora, It’s a fun little toy which not only looks cute, but won’t take up too much space either, the hard part can be getting a variation that you like, I missed out on a X-Ray version from Max Toy Co. But still really like this one. If you are like me and getting into soft vinyl figures, at least one Negora should be in your collection!

RETRO REVIEW – PLAYMATES TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES – Movie Star Turtles

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 3, 2011
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , , .

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a group of crime fighting mutant turtles lead by their sensei, Splinter and are named after four Renaissance artists’. They battle anything from small-time criminals to megalomaniacs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began as a comic series before being turned into a cartoon series on TV with a number of movies made as well. The toy line to accompany the cartoon series was very popular and successful lasting about ten years or more.
The Movie Star Turtles toys are based primarily on the second movie, The Secret of the Ooze and feature accessories used by the turtles from this movie.


Name: Movie Star Leo, Movie Star Don, Movie Star Raph and Movie Star Mike
Manufacturer: Playmates
Released:1991
Price: Then $5 to $12, Now – $50 to $100 MOC
Scale:4.5-5 inch figure
Accessories: Various weapons/props for each Turtle and ooze canister

Packaging

The Packaging for each turtle consists of clear plastic cover with tray, to hold the turtle and it’s accessories which are mounted on a sturdy backing card which features stills from the movie on a film negative roll and turtles logo on the front. On the back of the card there is a large still from the movie as well as product picture of all four turtles and accessories with a bio for the turtle at the bottom of the card. Each card is mostly the same with slight differences being the name of each turtle and “Mutant Movie Moment” picture on the back of each card and the bio. I quite like this packaging as it is very bright and colourful and features stills from the movie; I would say it would blend in fairly well with the previous turtle packaging, but still stand out on its own as well.

Sculpting

The sculpting for each turtle is done really well. I feel these are accurate to the source material and in my eyes capture the look of the turtles as they appeared on film.  They have nice sculpted details on the skin to give them a realistic appearance. There might appear to be re-use for each body, But it seems that all four turtles arms, legs and torsos are all different sculpts with subtle differences to each arm and leg as well as torso, for example there are scratches placed differently on each turtle’s stomach shell. Each head also has a different facial expression ranging from plain (Mike) to just down right crazy! (Leo)  The Arms, Legs and Head are all cast in a rubbery material used to mimic the look of the turtles in the movie, it works very well, however it can sometimes affect how well each turtle will stand in certain poses. The accessories for each turtle are also sculpted quite nicely and tend to be cast in either grey or brown plastic where applicable. In a lot of ways this keeps in step with the original turtles and weapons.

Paint

There is very little paint on each turtle – it is mainly kept to just on the bandanas, arm and knee pads, wrist covers and shell for each turtle. The paint application tends to be fairly clean, but there is still some slop here and there on each turtle, but it’s nothing to really affect the overall appearance. The eyes on each turtle are also nicely painted. For whatever reason, there are also dots or marks varying on each turtle painted on, with Leo having the worst of these, I’m assuming they are meant to add more detail, but do tend to look a little odd. There is no paint on the accessories the detailing on these are stickers applied to various items, such as the ooze canister.

Articulation

The turtles have the following articulation: Ball-jointed neck, ball-jointed arms and ball-jointed legs, giving them a grand total of five points of articulation. It’s not much and less than the original figures. This is largely due to the rubbery material the parts are cast in making things like wrist articulation a little hard to do. You can still get the turtles into a number of nice poses, but, not as many as I would like.

Accessories

Each turtle comes with a fair amount of accessories, besides their own personal weapons, they share the same ninja stars and ooze canister, but also come with additional movie or character themes items, such as Mike with the sausage nunchuku as used in the Secret of the Ooze movie or Don with the fire extinguisher. These accessories are quite fun and work well with each turtle and in most cases can be swapped between them. I understand Raph is a rough and ready dude, however I’m a little puzzled as to why he would want a turtle shell shield and turtle shell yuk-yuk yo-yo.


Potential Problems

The only real problem besides losing those damn ninja stars would be having the turtles fall over on you due to their rubbery legs, current count Raph – 2.These are well made toys so there are very little problems to be had


Price

Mint on Card prices can vary, but it seems the going rate is about $50 per turtle. Not too bad, but they will be cheaper to buy loose. Ebay is the place to go, as usual.


Overall

I really like these figures, I never had the movie versions when I was a child, only the original four, but I did enjoy the movies, they were fun for what they were and in a lot of ways so are these the figures. They aren’t prefect, but only have a few minor faults. There is a lot of play value and they sure do look good posed together. They have many nice accessories and very detailed sculpts and do look quite cool. Highly recommended for teenage mutant ninja turtles fans.  

 Please note. This post has been republished due to issues with the original post. First Published March 15, 2011.

This page copyright 2011 Mike’s Toy Blog. All rights reversed.

REVIEW – HOT TOYS THE TERMINATOR T-800 (TECH NOIR VERSION)- 1/6 SCALE COLLECTIBLE FIGURE

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 2, 2011
Posted in: Collectible. Tagged: , , .

In The Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger is an unstoppable cyborg killing machine sent back in time from the year 2029 by the artificial intelligence network, Skynet to terminate Sarah Connor, the woman who will give birth to the future’s Resistance movement leader, John Connor

The original terminator movie was released in 1984 and is considered one of the best sci-fi films ever made, It featured terrific action sequences, a well written story and incredible special effects for it’s time.

Name: T-800
Line: Movie Masterpiece Series
Product Code: MMS 136
Manufacturer: Hot Toys
Released: 2010
Price: $180 to $260 MIB
Scale: 1:6
Accessories: Figure base with T-800 nameplate and the movie logo


LIST OF PARTS
Inside the box you get the following items:

One T-800 figure
One interchangeable Alternate battle damaged head
Seven pieces of interchangeable palms including:
One pair of relaxed palms
One pair of gloved fists
One pair for holding gun
One damaged right arm
One dark grey jacket with metal chain on left shoulder
One black patterned under shirt
One pair of khaki pants
One pair of black boots with chain on left side
One long slide pistol
One machine gun
One long shotgun
One medical pincer
One medical knife
Four pairs of medical scissors
One figure base with T-800 nameplate and the movie logo
One set of instructions


SCULPTING

The head sculpt, for me, is always the focal point on any figure.  With this figure you get two, one undamaged version and a wounded, burnt, blood covered version. Both head sculpts are instantly recognizable as Arnold Schwarzenegger, I tend to like the un-damaged version the best out of the two. It has that determined, angry look which suits it quite well. Whereas the wounded/burnt version looks great, with its missing eye brows and closed up eye. The body is the same type that comes with the Terminator 2 T-800 with a slight improvement, namely being that the ends of the neck/chest section now extends over/up to the arms, making it look much more realistic in my eyes. The body features plenty of muscle detail and is a very good representation of Schwarzenegger’s body from the film. The gloves are also nicely done as are the boots. The only other sculpted items are the weapons which are excellent and appear to be scaled quite well with the figure.

PAINT

Time and time again Hot Toys’ paint applications are always done incredibly well and almost make the figures look alive. The main application of paint is on the face, on both heads there is no slop at all and the paint work is very neat; the eyes, lips, skin tone and hair line are all done exceptionally well. Also the gloves are painted and the work on the wounded extra arm and head is great too.


ARTICULATION

Articulation for the T-800 is as follows: double ball jointed neck, swivel/hinged shoulders, hinged arms (up to 90 degrees motion) swivel/hinged wrist, chest pivot, swivel waist, swivel/hinged thighs, double joined knees, and double ball jointed ankles. This is similar to  Royce’s (Wolverine)  muscle body, if not exactly the same. You can achieve pretty much any pose the human body can and you can get it to “hang” in a very realistic way. However some poses are restricted by the body for example the neck/chest region does lack poseability and that the elbows only move up to 90 degrees motion does affect some poses. I really like the direction Hot Toys are taking this particular body type in; it has become a very good balance of possibility and aesthetic appearance, there will be small trade offs here and there but overall the articulation is great.

 
ACCESSORIES

The T-800’s Outfit consists of a number of gloved hands, grey punk jacket, khaki cargo/climbing pants, black tank top undershirt and boots. As with all Hot Toys figures the clothing is tailored exceptionally and fits well on the T-800. The grey punk jacket is the stand out for me with black leather sections with studs and the chain on the left shoulder making it very detailed. You might find a stray thread, but it’s quite rare. The boots and gloves/hands are sculpted, however they still look great; I feel the boots could be slightly smaller, but they do have to support the large bulky frame of the Terminator’s muscled body. The gloved hands look great with studs sculpted on the gloves among other details, I’ve found the end of the gloves where the glove meets the wrist peg does restrict it partly, still, there is a good range of motion and many nice poses can still be achieved. The weapons the T-800 comes with are: Long Slide Pistol, Shotgun and Uzi 9mm. All these weapons are used by the Terminator in the first part of the film and all look great, once again this are well made and up to the standard you expect from Hot Toys, with removable ammo clips moving parts etc.


POTENTIAL PROBLEMS

One potential problem can be damage to the neck of the T-800 muscle body; make sure you carefully turn and pose the head/neck according to the included instructions, as you can tear the softer rubber/pvc material which makes up the chest and neck of the body. I haven’t heard any stories of damage to this area, but I wouldn’t want to find out the hard way! Besides the possibility of breaking the wrist pegs  there are some parts that can be a little brittle or delicate, such as the chain attached to the jacket or the medical scissors, but otherwise they are minimal as long as you handle the figure with care after all you’ve paid a fair amount of hard earned money for these high end figures and of course ALWAYS read the instructions that come with the figure first before anything else.


PRICE

I paid $180 AUD for the T-800 and that’s right to my front door. Of course shipping cost is always something to take into account as it does tend to affect the overall price you pay. But, there are always bargains to be had on eBay, I try to always shop around and find the best price. With all Hot Toys figures, its best to try and purchase them around the time of release, as the price for most figures tends to sky rocket pretty quickly!


OVERALL

I’m not going to lie, this version of the Terminator, is without a doubt my favorite, so that makes this review ever so slightly biased. However something tells me Hot Toys have to be a fan of the Terminator too, after all their first movie masterpiece figures were from the same Terminator movie! Finally, having a quality Terminator figure, from the original movie, is a dream come true as far as I’m concerned. I’ve studied enough screen shots from the movie to be able to tell that this figure is a very faithful to the source material. I would really like to see a second Terminator figure and at least a new version of Kyle Reese. Only time will tell if we get to see these figures made If you are a fan of the original Terminator movie or the Terminator in general, I highly recommend this figure, it would make an excellent addition to any Terminator fan’s collection.

RETRO REVIEW – TYCO DINORIDERS TRICERATOPS WITH HAMMERHEAD AND SIDEWINDER

Posted by Mighty Mike on March 1, 2011
Posted in: Retro. Tagged: , .

Dino Riders was a short-lived toy line by Tyco started in the late 1980s; it also had an accompanying cartoon series and combined very detailed dinosaur models with futuristic weaponry. Each dinosaur came with its own unique armour, which, depending on the size of the dinosaur, included 1-3 small humanoid figures, in scale with the original dinosaur.

The Triceratops’ role for its Rulon masters was to be used as a heavily armoured tank, with a number of weapons as well as a radar dish, and it featured a motorised walking action.

Name: Triceratops with Hammerhead and Sidewinder
Line: Dino Riders
Manufacturer: Tyco
Released: 1988
Price: Then- $20 to $40MIB,Now – $60 to $100 MIB
Scale: 1:24
Accessories: Two Rulon mini figures, two mini figure weapon sets

List of Parts

Inside the box you get the following items:

One Triceratops

One Rulon Hammerhead Figure

One Rulon Sidewinder Figure

Two Top Guns

Two Rear Guns

Two Side Swivel Guns

Two Seats

Two Seat Inserts

One Harness

One Radar Dish support

Two Gun Shields

One Radar Dish

One Brain Box

One Rear Seat Platform

One Harness Strap (rubber band)

Four Gun Tips

Two Sets of Rulon Weapons

One Instruction Book

One Comic Book

 Packaging

The artwork on the front of the box features a very colourful battle scene portraying the Triceratops battling various other Dino Riders. Upon lifting the flap, you are able to view the toy inside the box as well as a number of pictures listing the highlights of the product.  A cropped section of this artwork is displayed on both sides of the box, with the back of the box showing all products from the current series engaged in battle with each other.

This is a very solid box and appears to be a pretty standard design with larger toys during this time period; it has a styrofoam insert to protect the toy and its parts from damage; the dinosaur and the small figures have sections in the styrofoam cut out for them.

The accessories and armour are contained in sealed plastic bags behind the Styrofoam.

The box was always a standout for me, beautiful artwork featured on the front of the box – This was something I always loved about Dino Riders.

Sculpting

The Triceratops is highly detailed with a very nice scale effect all over the dinosaur, the head is made from a soft plastic material to make it easier to fit the brain box on. The animal’s face features what appears to be a sad expression, which is made more prominent when the brain box is placed on the head – apparently this is one dinosaur not happy to be a Rulon slave!  The eyes are a separate piece, they are glossy and appear very realistic, as they are not painted, but done in a way to mimic real eyes.

 The body is a hard plastic, which houses the electronics for the walking feature; underneath where the dinosaur’s belly is, there is a rectangular section cut into it which can be removed to place the battery inside the beast.  Also on the back there is a slightly raised spine which acts as a holder for the purple harness to help it sit correctly on the dinosaur.

 All four legs are made from the same hard plastic as the body and are very solid and sturdy

The two Rulon figures included both have the same body – only painted in different colour schemes with different heads.  For small scale figures they are very detailed and have many creases in their clothing as well as smooth armour sections. The work on both heads is also excellent with many nice details sculpted on them. I’ve always liked the mini figure sculpting on both Dino-Riders and Rulons, Tyco really put a lot of effort in, while still re-using parts where they could.

 The armour is very nicely sculpted as well, featuring many smooth surfaces with a number of ridges, panelling and tubing sculpted into them.  You are given a good number of guns and armour plating as well as two seats, a harness and radar dish – all of this fits nice and snugly in its place and is not loose-fitting at all.

Paint

The Triceratops has a nicely blended combination of teal/grey/green over the top of the body and green on the underside, with green for the three horns on its face – this is a very clean and crisp application, with no slop what-so-ever. These colours really push that depressed vibe that the sculpting on the head suggested IMO. Also, in order to tell an original Triceratops from a Smithsonian version release, the eye colour of the original will be yellow, not green.

Paint for the armour is used sparingly, mainly on the tips of the side mounted guns and on the two Rulon figures, only the eyes and small sections of armour or clothes have been painted, otherwise the plastic has been cast in the colour it’s meant to be. The paint work here is also very crisp with no slop. Also as a side note, there is slight variation with Sidewinder’s armour colour where the pink/purple/maroon on some figures it’s a brighter colour then others, but that could just be from discolouration on some figures.  

Articulation

As far as articulation goes for the Triceratops, he’s pretty limited; this is mainly because of the walking feature; technically you can pose the head and legs to your pleasing but most of the time he will be just standing in the usual pose, of all four legs on the ground, which is just fine as I don’t see this Triceratops having the need to be doing any flying punches or kicks anytime soon – for a dinosaur and a toy from the 80s the amount of articulation is just fine.

The two Rulons figures on the other hand, have plenty of opportunity to be put in many different poses. The articulation for each of these small figures is as follows:  swivel head, swivel arms – where the arm meets the body, swivel legs – where the leg meets the body and hinge joints at the knees. For an older figure this is more than enough for it to not only work well with the accessories but be seated with the armour as well. Obviously, articulation has come a long way since then, but you still get quite a lot with these two figures –  this was standard articulation for most of the mini figures released in this line at the time. 

Accessories

There are two weapon sets with the Triceratops, one for each Rulon: one crossbow, one set of binoculars, one shield, one bazooka, one electronic whip (ball and chain) and one ladder. they are quite detailed and cast in red plastic; they easily clip on to the Rulon’s arms.

Potential Problems

Besides losing some of the parts or having gun tips break, the only main problem with second hand Dino Riders is that you have to watch out for grey plastic that has yellowed, besides the colour change, it causes the plastic to become brittle as well! – It is quite a common problem.

Price

Depending weather it’s MIB, MISB or loose will affect the price you pay. However, from time to time you can grab a bargain on eBay. Just make sure you are happy with the condition the figure is in when you buy it for the price you are going to pay.

Overall 

I’m sure any child who received this figure back when it was originally released would have had a lot of fun with it as there are plenty of play options. It’s a very cool looking figure and it’s quite hard to beat the combination of dinosaurs and futuristic weapons, together with the walking feature, you have a winner. As a collector it’s quite easy to get sucked into buying a few of these and having a small army as they look quite impressive lined up together – not to mention that you can always race them!

This is a repost of a review originally posted by Mighty Mike on January 19th, 2011.