Ice Ice Berg

The 1986 line of G.I.Joe will always be fondly remembered by collectors. For starters, it was the year that both Sgt. Slaughter and the Fridge joined the Joe ranks. But more importantly in my opinion, it was also the last line of Joes to be heavily featured in the much loved Sunbow produced cartoon, which also got cancelled that year. Given this, I find it ironic that at the end of the 25th anniversary toyline, many of the more popular 1986 joes were left without any modern updates.

The Rainbow Collection

When writer Geoff Johns introduced the concept of the “other” colored lanterns, that basically meant one thing for toy collectors like myself….MORE TOYS. Now while I couldn’t really afford to start collecting yet ANOTHER toyline, I figured putting together a little set of figures with each color being represented by one member wouldn’t hurt my wallet TOO much. So this exactly what I set out to do....

What Happens When You Open a Bag of Nips?

In 2004, comic book writer Geoff Johns almost single-handedly saved the Green Lantern comic which was at that point languishing in second tier obscurity, constantly being overshadowed by the DC big three, Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman. Through the years, his expert writing introduced many memorable story arcs and new characters that propelled the whole Green Lantern character and mythos to epic levels.

Thar’s Gold In Them Toyshelves….

Lego minifigures ROCK! What else is there to say about this awesome little blind bag sub-line that Lego has unleashed on us? Surprisingly, I have been able to resist the temptation of collecting each and every figure released and managed to just cherry pick the ones I really want. Plus I decided that it was good enough to live vicariously through my girlfriend’s minifigure collection. For her, it was love at first minifigure, and since that fateful first, she has gotten every single one released…with a little help from her ever supportive boyfriend of course ☺

Yo Kreo!

If I really thought about it, I would have to say that Lego was my first real toy obsession. When I was a kid, my dad did a lot of travelling and when he would come home, he would never fail to bring home a nicely sized Lego set or 2 for me and my brother. I would spend hours building the sets according to the instructions, tear them down and then build my own creations. That was basically the “circle of life” for most of my Lego sets.

My Michonne

When it comes to the Walking Dead, I guess you could say I started out as a casual fan. I had never really heard of the comic book and my first taste of the series came with the TV show. I wouldn't say I’m a big fan of the zombie genre in general (although I have seen most of the big Hollywood zombie movies) and I decided to check out the series mainly because it was getting a lot of fanfare.

A Quick Explanation....

I know, it’s been quite some time since my last entry. While I have tried my best to keep a regular schedule with at least 4 entries a month, Stories from the Toyshelf remained largely unchanged for April and a big portion of May. Well don’t worry, I haven’t lost interest in this little blog of mine and my lack of any update is easily explained. I was out travelling.

Baby You're a Firefly

1984 will always be known by G.I.Joe fans as the year when one of the most famous and iconic Cobra characters was introduced. Storm Shadow turned out to be a homerun for Hasbro as apparently EVERYBODY loves a ninja. For me however, I actually prefer another Cobra character that also made his debut the same year. He didn’t reach the same heights of popularity as Stormy or even the Baroness & Zartan also introduced that year but he has managed to maintain a low key cult following, which based on his speciality seems quite appropriate.

What The Puck???

When you go through the rosters on most classic superhero teams, you will find that many of them share characters with either similar personalities or powers. Most of them have your token “big” or strong guy, a speedster, a water guy, maybe someone mystical, a god and of course a leader who’s either draped in a flag or at least has the personality of a boy scout. That’s one of the reasons why Canada’s own Alpha Flight has always been one of my favourite superhero teams of all time. Although they have all the usual suspects on their roster, Sasquatch (strong guy), Northstar (speedster), Marinna (water girl), Shaman (mystic), Snowbird (demi-god), Guardian (leader draped in the Canadian flag) they also have something that most teams don’t have…and that’s Puck.

Fear of Offending Asians...

I don’t really know what it is that makes me gravitate towards the more obscure characters in a toyline. For some reason I just find them infinitely more interesting than the more popular ones. Or maybe it’s because we hardly know anything about them that it leaves more to the imagination, making them more your character to do as you would. When it comes to Masters of the Universe main vintage line (I don’t count the last minute characters thrown in towards the end of the line), no one comes more obscure than Jitsu.

Springer Awakening

What’s better than a robot that could transform into an alternate mode? Why, a robot that could transform into TWO alternate modes of course! This is eactly what the Transformers guys thought of coming into the 3rd year of the toyline. So in 1985, the new Transformer “triple-changer” concept was born! The concept turned out to be quite a hit despite the fact that limited technology (and creativity?) actually just delivered another “brick” that transformed into 2 different looking bricks.