Retro

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.

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.

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.