A Million Takara Fans Can't Be Wrong

In 1999 I purchased a book that chronicled the history of Takara Toys through a period between the early '70s and the early '80s. The Official Guide of Takara SF Land is a fantastic treasure that's full of amazing photos, but given the fact that I don't read Japanese, I've had to be content with just the pictures as a means of showing the timeline between Henshin Cyborg and, eventually, the American Transformers line.



Just the same, the thing is so well designed that the images alone tell the story of a company that obviously knew exactly what made kids happy.





And when I said that I had to rely on the photos alone to tell me about Takara's great toy lines, well, I wasn't exactly being truthful. One of the most amazing things about the book is that it comes with a CD-ROM that includes around sixty vintage television commercials.



The commercials are all absolutely brilliant, and a few years ago I decided to upload them to my YouTube account with the assumption that not everyone was lucky enough to find this book, and that there would probably be a few other interested Takara fans out there.

Just recently my account crossed the one million mark for upload views, and I'm not surprised, but I've got to admit... I'm more than a little pleased. It makes me very happy to know that these fantastic pieces of toy history have been enjoyed so many times, by so many people.

C-3PO-Yeah!

Back around the first time that Hasbro started putting out modern figures in "vintage" style packaging, there was a version of C-3PO released that was so bad, that it was actually kind of embarrassing.

Now, just over five years later, Hasbro is taking another shot at the whole vintage thing. And to make amends for that other terrible C-3PO, they've gone ahead and made a new version that's surprisingly cool.



Not "surprising" because Hasbro isn't capable of putting out a really fun Star Wars toy from time to time, but surprising because we've had so many different C-3PO figures over the last few decades, that it really takes a great deal of effort to get me interested in them anymore.

And that's exactly where I'm at. To say that I have a kind of Star Wars apathy at the moment is an understatement. Oh sure, I love the old Kenner toys, and will probably always get excited about finding the perfect loose version of one figure or another (until I've finally got them all), but as far as the new stuff goes... well... not so much.



Yet here's the deal with this new "The Vintage Collection" version of C-3PO: it's well made, has great and very appropriate articulation, it's painted nicely enough, and it has a genuinely cool play gimmick. In fact, the gimmick was probably the only reason why I finally decided to buy this toy.



At first glance this is a very standard, and very classic version of the character. He's golden, with just a little simple weathering, and has a silver shin. After fiddling with him just a bit, you can remove a few select parts of his outer shell, to reveal the prequel inspired inner workings.



To be honest, one of the things that I actually liked about the prequels, was the way that C-3PO's internal mechanics were introduced, and this toy does a really great job of including that, without ruining the intended "vintage" appeal.

If found for the right price, which is a few dollars less than the ten dollars that some places are charging, this is a fun toy that more than makes up for the first vintage inspired C-3PO figure... that we should all just forget about at this point.

Is Creamy Filling a Super Power?

Hostess is running a promotion with DC Comics, and though I've only spotted (and eaten) Twinkies and Cup Cakes with Superman and Batman on the box, ads in a few of the recent DC titles have me on the lookout for "Glo Balls" and "The Flash Cakes" as well.

More info to come.

Dunny 2010!

I don't care what the cool kids say... I love Dunnys. The 2010 series is out, and it's a lot of fun. "Knitty" by CW is a favorite of mine so far, but I'm into just about all of them, so it's a win-win.

Lego Minifigures, Series Two... Just as Mini, and Just as Awesome.

The first batch of Lego Minifigures came and went pretty quickly, and I'm sure that this batch will vanish just as soon, so I'm glad that I've found a few.

While opening the little blind-packed bags, I kept hoping that I'd get the Mariachi figure. Aside from the fact that it may be one of the only Lego figures to ever sport a poncho, I'm also very excited to eventually make a custom Danny Trejo figure, from the film Machete.