Last weekend I stumbled on a beautiful specimen of Rock Lord-dom. Boulder - the leader of the good rocks!
Rock Lords are stupider than shit but damned if I didn't love them as a kid.
Rocks that transform into robots.
W
T
F.
I really wish I had held on to all of the ones I had when I was a kid. But I didn't, and they rarely show up during my second-hand hunting. So when I found a near minty fresh Boulder at the flea market last weekend for two bucks I had to have him even though i think I might have a less perfect one around Toyriffic headquarters somewhere.
This one even has his gun! The tab that holds it to his wrist is broken but that's not a big deal since I haven't seen Boulder's gun since I was a wee lad.
The 80s apparent fascination with rock-based action figures was either a stroke of updated Pet Rock genius, or proof that toy designers were flat out of ideas by the ends of both the Masters of the Universe and GoBots toylines.
"Nuthin' here but us rocks. Move along."
While I admit I DID buy into the Rock Lords faction of the GoBots (and had quite a few of them I might add,) I had moved on from MOTU by the time Stonedar made his appearance. There was another character called Rokkon who was more boulder-ish, while Stonedar looks like a meteor or some type of space debris. Both transformed in the same fashion into mighty Masterrrrrrs of the Universe-erse-erse-erse!
Stonedar's "change" is actually quite inspired, and his joints all move nice and free in much the same way most MOTU figures did, so he could probably sit in some of the vehicles and certainly fit right in with the castle playsets. Unfortunately his hands can't really grip anything so they designed him to have a satellite dish type weapon that clicks into his belly (which I don't have.)
He has a rather odd space-man ish look to him, but he is still pretty neat and clever and if I were still into Masters of the Universe when he came out I would surely have wanted him. Thanks to the magic of the swap meet, I have him now. Yay swap meet!
Next up is another recent swap meet find, Magmar - Evil leader of the bad guy faction of the Rock Lords.
I didn't have Magmar as a kid, but I did have Sticks N' Stones who I previously blogged about, so now my sole Rock Lord has a leader!
"Rock on."
Okay it's your turn; commence with the cheesy rock-based comments like "this post rocked" or "Magmar rokksors my sokxsors!"
Two headed monsters were all the rage in the eighties. Imperial released a couple two-headed dragons, there were a couple two-headed Transformers (a Monsterbot and a Terrorcon spring immediately to mind) and I am sure there were many many more from all those crazy toy lines spawned from half hour commercials...err I mean cartoons.
Probably the most famous of two-headed characters was Masters of the Universe's very own Two-Bad.
Two-Bad is a pretty unique figure for an original MOTU. As was tradition, most Master of the Universe figures shared parts (legs, arms, torsos) between characters. As far as I am aware, Two-Bad's only "shared" component is his belt/fuzzy drawers region. (Just don't ask who he shares them with. HAHAHHAAA! I made a funny!)
He looks as though two separate monsters were squished together to form one powerhouse of evil. I'm not aware of his character's original MOTU storyline, but I'm pretty sure this was exactly the case in the MOTU cartoon of the early 2000's.
His legs and arms are unique to each "side" and his torso, having to host two heads, is completely unique as well, with his armor/chest-plate being molded on instead of removable like most other MOTU.
His "action feature," another staple of the original Masters of the Universe line, is also unique and quite amusing.
"Mom liked me best."
POP!
When you pull back on either arm and release it, a spring action allows Two-Bad to punch his opposite head in the nose! HA! That's just genius toy design right there. I never had Two-Bad as a kid, but found this guy at a flea market recently and am glad I did. Every now and again you just want to pop someone in the nose, but sadly that behavior doesn't fly in polite society. I suggest you get a Two-Bad figure and stick him on your desk at work. He's cooler than a stress ball or that ugly squeezy guy with pop out eyes. He's a one man barroom brawl.
And since this is an article about two headed creatures, I figured it ought to contain two characters. Because I'm silly like that.
So let us go from the most famous 80s two-headed creature to the most infamous. The Go-Bot Rock Lord Sticks 'N Stones:
Bio: "Sticks 'n Stones are living proof that two heads are worse than one. They're constantly at odds with each other. But give them a single purpose-destroying good rocks-and they become an awesome fighting force. The very sight of them charging into battle with their Cactus Club and Double Duty mace is enough to send enemies flying home!"
Okaaaay.
First, let me say that I loved the Rock Lords as a kid. But...wow...what a lame idea. Creatures (not always robots...some were robots, but some were humanoid, and some were monsters) that "transformed" into...rocks.
Rocks.
And rarely were they convincing rocks.
Often they looked less like a rock and more like a monster in a yoga pose. But somehow they were cool, and I had quite a few. None have survived to still be part of my collection to this day (unless they're disguised as rocks out back, but you won't find me digging them up even if they were.)
Okay, that last part is a lie. I love toys, even the corny ones.
But Sticks N' Stones (ugh - even his name is lame!) was also part of a flea market find and therefore he has somehow defied all odds, as well as good taste, to become one of Toyriffic's finest once again.
"Ewww....you almost stepped in it." "Dang it...you forgot to put Panthro out last night!!!" "Did not!" "Did too!""Did not!" "Did too" "Did not!" "Did too!" "Did not!" "Did too!"