We Had That

MegaConstrux Scareglow (2018) The original Masters of the Universe toys first came out in 1982.  Each year, new figures were introduced all the way through 1988.  The character "Scare Glow" was part of the sixth wave of figures which was the last full wave of figures that came out in 1987.  Scare Glow's gimmick, aside from being an awesome skeleton, was that he glowed in the dark.  As a kid, I never knew about him.  Apparently, a lot of people didn't know about him at the time and only discovered him when they returned to the line as adults.  Because Masters of the Universe was winding down by the sixth wave, not as many figures were produced and many of the figures from this wave are more difficult to find.  Scare Glow is one of the most difficult to find and because he is so cool, he's also in demand which means an original, vintage Scare Glow figure is very expensive these days. Scare Glow: The Evil Ghost of Skeletor! When the series was re-launched...

Cobra C.L.A.W. (Hasbro, 1984) When G.I. Joe re-launched in the 3 3/4" scale in 1982, I thought they were the most amazing toys that I had ever seen!  When I saw the first wave figures and toys on the shelves, I wanted every G.I. Joe piece that Hasbro made.  Waves two and three seemed just as appealing; although I have to admit that I didn't play much with the S.H.A.R.K. and the Deep Six figure sucked.  The G.I. Joe Slugger and Cobra A.S.P. didn't see much action at my house either.  But in 1984 the Cobra C.L.A.W. was a definitely "Must Have" vehicle for me!  It was one of the vehicles from wave 3 that I played with a good bit!   How many Cobra Troopers does it take to launch one of these things? The C.L.A.W. (or Covert Light Aerial Weapon) was a Cobra air vehicle that could either be piloted by a person or controlled remotely like a drone.  When piloted by a person, there wasn't much protection for the pilot...not that Cobra really cared much abou...

Power-Con Prince Adam (Super7, 2017) The Masters of the Universe Classics line started in 2008 and it's one of my favorite modern action figure lines.  Although there were a few quality issues throughout the line, the figures were overall well made and certainly had much better articulation than the vintage figures.  Just as importantly, the figures look so ridiculously cool!  A friend of mine told me that the Masters of the Universe Classics figures look in reality just like what the vintage figures looked through the filter of his imagination.  We weren't alone in thinking they were cool figures.  The line was very successful! Maybe THIS Prince Adam is good with a sword? In fact, the Classics line was so successful that it included new versions of all of the vintage Masters of the Universe figures as well as the Princess of Power line, many variant figures, and characters from the cartoon and mini-comics that were never released before.  One example that ...

Vultura from the "Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones" line (Galoob, 1984) Mattel had phenomenal success with their Masters of the Universe line starting in 1982.  In 1984,  Galoob's sword and sorcery line 'Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones' was released to serve as a companion series to The Masters of the Universe, but targeted towards girls.  Mattel's own "She-Ra" line would serve essentially the same purpose shortly after and, in the long run, achieve much more success.  However, despite Mattel's application for the She-Ra trademark being filed about a week before Galoob's application for the Golden Girl trademark (She-Ra trademark filed on Oct. 23, 1984 vs. Golden Girl trademark filed on Nov. 2, 1984), Golden Girl was able to beat She-Ra to the stores. Teela (Mattel, 1982) - Vultura (Galoob, 1984) - She-Ra (Mattel, 1985) At about 6" tall, the Golden Girl figures were slightly taller than the female Masters of ...

The goblin Red Cap from The Spiderwick Chronicles (Irwin, 2007) In 2003, "The Field Guide," the first book of The Spiderwick Chronicles,  was released.  The basic premise of the series is that a young boy moves with his family into a creepy old house and discovers a book chronicling the world of fairies, goblins, and other mythical creatures which leads him to discovering the creatures first hand.  Numerous books were released in the successful series and in 2008, Nickelodeon Movies produced a film based on the books.  All four figures from The Spiderwick Chronicles movie toy line: Jared Grace, Hogsqueal, Red Cap, and Mulgarath Due to the success of the books and the expected success of the movie, Irwin acquired the license to manufacture a series of action figures that would be based on characters from The Spiderwick Chronicles Movie.  The series included four figures: Jared Grace, Hogsqueal, Red Cap, and Mulgarath.  Although the movie did very well, ...