Jon Sable! Madman! Dragon! Nexus! A new line of Amazing Heroes! (Kickstart the Week 66)

It's been awhile since I focused on a Kickstarter over in these parts. I've cooled a bit on the platform as I've forced myself into a bit more financial frugality over the last year or so. But when I see something that's just really cool, I still want to share it with you.

I supported the previous incarnation of Amazing Heroes, where they produced several figures in the style of the old school Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. They were fun figures, but they were limited with few joints and with a majority of the figures being classic public domain characters.

A swath of characters are available for the new line.

This time around, they're taking the opposite route. Proper 1/18 scale (a la G.I. Joe and classic Star Wars) figures featuring a variety of licensed properties with names like Savage Dragon, Madman, Jon Sable, Nexus, E-Man and Stray in the initial wave. If the Kickstarter proves wildly successful, they have several additional figures planned as stretch goals including the Red Hook, Jack Staff, Flaming Carrot and the Destroyer himself, Remo Williams. It's an impressive array of figures.

Unfortunately, it's currently in danger of missing its funding goal. This is a superb line of toys featuring a ton of indie favorites, so if you've ever loved superhero toys, now is the time to show some support with a few shekels. Check out the Kickstarter for full details on how to back.

Books I would write: Big Jim's P.A.C.K.

When I was a kid, I loved getting weird back issues whenever I had the rare chance to go to the comic shop. It was through those back issues that I was first exposed to Big Jim’s P.A.C.K.

Big Jim was Mattel’s answer to G.I. Joe and when Joe gained his Adventure Team, Jim gained his Professional Agents — Crime Killers. (Toy acronyms didn’t require much thought in those days.) I was about negative three when the toyline came out though, so unlike some of my friends online, cannot say I ever experienced them first hand in a store. But, the ad. The ad drew me in.

I cannot remember where I saw an ad for the group first, or even if it was a Marvel or DC book. But that glorious G.I. Joe-like team drawn by Jack Kirby instantly caught my attention. I wanted to know more about Warpath, Dr. Steel, The Whip and their much less interesting leader. I remember crafting narratives in my mind as a preteen with these weird characters, even designing a villainous unit for them to fight. (It would be a few more years before I learned about Zorak or the later 004 villains.)

Ultimately like so many great olden toylines, Big Jim is trapped under the ownership of a company that probably will never revive him (though he did get a memorial of sorts in an early 2000s episode of Max Steel.) But the P.A.C.K. is one of those teams that just deserves to have a good adventure series built around them. I doubt it will ever happen but you never know.

And Mattel, my email address is right there on the contact page if you're interested.

Kickstart the Week 45: Eagle Force Returns!

I make no secret that I am a bit of a toy collector. I am not nearly as bad as some folks, but I do spend a few bucks every month on weird and wonderful toys I come across. Most of my collection these days are six inch figures, but when I grew up it was all about a certain team of 3.75 inch military men. Sadly those men barely get any action figure releases these days, but several independent lines have popped up to fill the void.

And now the other 80s line of military men have made their return, at the same size as the 80s era G.I. Joe.


I never collected the Eagle Force line. I only have the barest memory of them in fact. Produced by Mego Toys, they were much like every other line Mego produced in its dying days: a clear answer to what was popular made in a bit cheaper format. Smaller than G.I. Joe figures but with more metal parts, the line was famous for featuring a ton of gold paint.

Now revived by the teams at Fresh Monkey Fiction and Remco Toys (a.k.a. Zica Toys), Eagle Force Returns looks like it has everything in place to be a great new line of military action figures. While not as customizable as the similar Marauder Gun Runners line, these figures come with far more personality. With over a dozen characters in place already for the first line, stretch goals could bring the entire line into the twenties. The team clearly knows what they're doing in designing a great line and also re-using parts and designs.

The entry point for figures is pretty decent as well for an independent toy manufacturer. Give them a look and if you want to see some great military figures back in action, give them your support.

Oh, and what did I buy? I'm in for a Gold Captain Eagle. Who else?

Top 10 action figures overseeing my writing

I have an incredibly tiny desk space in the corner of the bedroom where about 90% of my writing gets done. It isn't the ideal writing spot, but it is an effective area to work. But sometimes I need inspiration or just a bit of a distraction from the regular grind of trying to figure out the next plot point of my current story. And that's where the handy shelf of action figures behind my desk comes in handy.

As part of this week's Pop Culture League, I'm going to take a look at my ten favorite toys on those shelves. And since my current at home camera sucks, I'll use handy stock or review photos for my convenience!

Honorable Mention: WWE Figures

I don't buy many wrestling toys, but a few have a treasured place on my shelves. My currently unopened Samoa Joe will certainly join these four shortly. (Images all from Ringside Collectibles if you didn't figure that out.)


10. Otho

I've seen a lot more love for the Four Horsemen's Mythic Legions line than I've actually felt for the figures. They are pretty solid overall, but I can't help but feel the line is overly expansive without enough variety. Still, I see a few gems in the line and Otho here is one of them.

Image credit: Four Horsemen.

Cool Stuff: Hurricane Hordak

I have already talked about my love for Hordak in a Best Character Ever, but today I have to focus on my plastic representation of the Evil Horde's leader.

The Masters of the Universe Classics line has been issuing amazing figures for several years now, but up until this year, I never actually set out to buy any of them. Hurricane Hordak was me finally changing that.

Kickstart the Week 30: Ninjas!

Who doesn't love ninjas? But when it comes to the world of awesome six inch figures, the number of ninjas available is surprisingly low. Well, the folks at the toy site Fwoosh want to fix that. In order to do so, they have created their first figure in their Articulated Icons series, the Ninja.



The new series is built around an awesome basic and deluxe pair of great looking toys with tons of accessories. Even the basic figure comes with six hands, two heads and three weapons. The Deluxe figure adds two extra heads, a dozen extra weapons and an amazing base designed to look like a Japanese roof top.

Kickstart the Week 28: Skeleton Warriors' Grimskull

Back in the mid-1990s, CBS had a 90 minute block in the middle of their Saturday mornings devoted to action adventure series. WildC.A.T.S. and the final animated seasons of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were part of it, but my favorite contribution was Skeleton Warriors.

Created by the director of the Masters of the Universe film, the franchise definitely had influences in He-Man or The Visionaries. But in crafting a series around humans turned into evil skeleton soldiers and the super-powered humans framed to stop them, Landmark Entertainment created a unique property with tons of potential. Unfortunately the series never really built to anything nor was it renewed past the initial 13 episode run.

The Skeleton Warriors sat with no new material for nearly 20 years before George and Ayleen Gaspar of October Toys revived the property last year with the Kickstarter funded release of Baron Dark. With that toy released (and awesome), they have moved on to the second figure in the line, the amazing Grimskull.

Grimskull betrayed his brother to the people that became the Skeleton Warriors, only to have a change of heart at the last moment. But his loyalty to light and dark transformed him into something between the super-powered Legion of Light and the corrupted Skeleton Warriors. He became Grimskull.



Now Grimskull is the second release in the October Toys series and he's just as amazing as Baron Dark. With three accessories and a wolf companion, he also is far more ready for combat than his simply sword-wielding foe. About half way into its campaign, the toy is only about a third of the way funded though, cutting into my chances of getting this great figure next year.

So head over to Kickstarter and lend your support to make a great toy a reality.

Best Character Ever 10: Hordak

The Masters of the Universe Classics version of Hordak.
Image by MWCToys.com.

I am a huge fan of 80s and 90s cartoons. But often when I am interested in a show with a tie-in toyline, it is the villains that prove as cool as the heroes to me. Never was that more so than with Hordak, leader of the Evil Horde.

I first came across the character through television ads introducing a whole new wave of villains to the Masters of the Universe toyline. The Evil Horde were villains even Skeletor feared. Heck, voiceover Optimus Prime was even warning us to be wary of these fiends. (An aside: it is fun with his current fame just waiting for Peter Cullen to pop up in odd roles in just about every 80s cartoon.)

Hordak re-designed by Stjepan
Sejic. Click for larger view.

Hordak was easily my favorite of the early figures, a menacing figure with a more menacing skull-head than Skeletor and some really cool accessories. But I remember being really angry that I never saw him or his allies on the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon. This was actually a reason for me to give up regularly watching the cartoon, which was silly even in my seven year old mind. I still wanted the toys though, but with a heavier focus on M.A.S.K. and Transformers and a parent that did not like all those “demon looking things”, I never saw them.

I later learned that Hordak and the Horde did have their own animated series. She-Ra: Princess of Power needed more villains so they were moved over to menace Adora in a much more tightly written series than He-Man ever got. Hordak actually ruled the world of Etheria, a dark dictator with magical powers and deadly allies.

Of course, much like Skeletor, he would eventually be turned into a joke before the figure and toyline died. Still, I could not get over how visually cool he was. I was disappointed when He-Man was revived in the early 2000s without a new Hordak ever appearing, but the recent Masters of the Universe Classics line finally fixed that with new versions of Hordak, Hurricane Hordak and Buzzsaw Hordak figures.

Hordak promotional art by Alvin Lee.
Click for larger view.

The recent DC comic has made him one of the series’ major villains. It even gave him an origin that ties him to long-time character Zodac. But no media has ever turned him and his group into the super-menace that he always was in my head. While series material established the Horde as something of a malevolent force wiping across the galaxy destroying and pillaging whole planets, no show or material ever gave that to me the way I wanted to see it.

But something about that little plastic man always did. Hordak is a dangerous threat, the leader of a powerful universe spanning evil. It doesn’t hurt that he looks like a million bucks doing it.

In the end, I suspect my vision of Hordak as a child (as opposed to the more bumbling version from She-Ra) really did frame my mindset on what a cosmic scale villain should be like. He seemed like true evil personified, far more than his bright blue, skull-faced counterpart. That image of a galactic level threat certainly played an inspiration to me when I started to frame the Grand Magister in the pages of Lightweight: Beyond, though I'm certain even he won't be as massive a foe as the Hordak of my eight year old imagination.

For more on the modern version of Hordak check out the excellent He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Vol. 2: Origins of Eternia from DC Comics.

Keith Giffen's cover for the breathtaking Masters of the Universe: The Origin of Hordak
collected in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Volume 2.)

Welcome to the Glyos System 2: Kabuto Mushi

I cannot say I have met many folks that make toys for a living, but I was very excited to meet Marty “The Godbeast” Hansen at Wizard World Des Moines. (Mystic Warriors of the Ring creator Mark Vasquez was also in attendance, but more on his work in future columns.) The creator of the Kabuto Mushi line of figures, he showed off his then-upcoming Shogun Warriors inspired figures at the show, and I personally picked up a couple with strong resemblances to Skeletor and Hordak. I instantly was drawn into the looks of the Kabuto Mushi Mark II line, as it featured tons of detail and often more detailed paint schemes than other Glyos toys.

To me, this is the toy that best shows off just how much you can do with one figure mold. Through various paint and plastic layouts, one toy can look drastically different than the next despite using the same parts and design. The backpack of the standard mushi also can serve as a second head for figures promoted as Instar Warriors.

Some of the other Glyos-linked toys from Onell Design or Toyfinity have detailed back stories, the Mushis have very little so far (though their creator has ensured me a lot more is to come). I think that might draw me to Kabuto Mushi a bit more because he (or is it she?) is a character I could totally wrap a compelling narrative around. I can see this strange figure coming to Earth to right some wrong or defeat some evil. That is one of the things I enjoy most about the strange and wild world of independent toys: embracing the oddities and letting them inspire me.

For more on Kabuto Mushi, visit The Godbeast’s site or pick up some great figures at the Kabuto Mushi store.

Books I would write: Big Jim's P.A.C.K.

When I was a kid, I loved getting weird back issues whenever I had the rare chance to go to the comic shop. It was through those back issues that I was first exposed to Big Jim’s P.A.C.K.

Big Jim was Mattel’s answer to G.I. Joe and when Joe gained his Adventure Team, Jim gained his Professional Agents — Crime Killers. (Toy acronyms didn’t require much thought in those days.) I was about negative three when the toyline came out though, so unlike some of my friends online, cannot say I ever experienced them first hand in a store. But, the ad. The ad drew me in.

I cannot remember where I saw an ad for the group first, or even if it was a Marvel or DC book. But that glorious G.I. Joe-like team drawn by Jack Kirby instantly caught my attention. I wanted to know more about Warpath, Dr. Steel, The Whip and their much less interesting leader. I remember crafting narratives in my mind as a preteen with these weird characters, even designing a villainous unit for them to fight. (It would be a few more years before I learned about Zorak or the later 004 villains.)

Ultimately like so many great olden toylines, Big Jim is trapped under the ownership of a company that probably will never revive him (though he did get a memorial of sorts in an early 2000s episode of Max Steel.) But the P.A.C.K. is one of those teams that just deserves to have a good adventure series built around them. I doubt it will ever happen but you never know.

And Mattel, my email address is right there on the contact page if you're interested.

Welcome to the Glyos System!

I am always looking for new interests and concepts to share on this page. But my criteria is often rather stringent. I want those posts to be interesting to you, interesting to me and organized around the general premise of this site: super powered fiction. It is one of the reasons I created The Wrestling Weekday as a separate blog. It is also the reason why I'll be debuting a third blog sometime in the next several weeks for another corner of my fandom to take route. But more on that later.

Right now, let's talk Glyos.

Image credit: Onell Design.

The Glyos System is an independent toy line from the folks at Onell Design. It is named after the part of space the tales take place, but it’s name also describes the system which holds the toys together. Every joint on a Glyos figure is built to pull apart for easy reassembly in a myriad of patterns. The figures become a cross between a classic 80s action figure and a LEGO design set.

With tons of amazing designs by the folks at Onell Design and thousands of other possibilities with multiple sets, the building capability of the line knows no bounds. Coupled with Onell’s ease with licensing the system to other independent toy designers, you get a line of interchangeable toys that cover the gamut of styles and looks. Other Glyos-peg systems include classic toy lines like Power Lords, Skeleton Warriors and Robo Force, as well as some great newer designs like Kabuto Mushi and the Weaponeers of Monkaa.

But in a universe of strange super-powered creatures fighting it out, I find myself immediately drawn in. This is a line that any fan of heroic fiction can find tons of joy. So I am now devoting a semi-regular column here to the figures. In the future, I will talk about some of the individual toy designs for the line, some of the other Glyos related toys and a few custom designs as well.

If that isn't enough to make you think Glyos deserves a place of honor on this blog, let's end with one picture that should convince anyone.

Kickstart the Week 7: Lost Protectors

Play With This Too is a new toy manufacturer, but they are made up of multiple long-time professionals in the industry. Now they want to start their first line in the form of Lost Protectors and fund it with Kickstarter. The toy designs focus on evil invading monsters battling weirdly armored humans, several of which show clear inspiration from a long-forgotten line of toys. The Transformers Pretenders look archaic by today’s toy standards but Desolataur and Bitemark derive straight from Skullgrin and Bomb-Burst. But these toys have unique innovations all their home and promise to be some amazing releases.

Check out more of the designs on Kickstarter and support some great looking toys.