Little Tikes B.C. Builders I-Fell Tower Playset

Being a toy addict and having children is like being a crack addict and having a 3 foot tall drug dealer for a roommate. Sometimes I just have to buy awesome toys for my intern just so I can play with them myself!

That was totally the case with this Little Tikes B.C. Builders I-Fell Tower Playset.

I've been peripherally aware of these Flintstones ripoff pre-school toys for years, having seen bits, pieces, dinosaurs and cavemen at random intervals at garage sales and flea markets on many occasions.

But I've never seen a complete set, or even close enough to a complete set to feel it worth the asking price to purchase them.

But the other day we were at the local thrift store and I spotted this Brontosaurus (officially, he's an Apatasaur, but he'll always be a Brontosaurus to me!)  and picked him up off the shelf. I was shocked and amazed to discover he had a whole baggie of accessories taped to him!

Being no expert on this toyline, I couldn't assess if the contents made for a complete set. But I could tell that there was enough in the baggie (including an Imaginext Stegosaurus) to warrant the five dollar asking price.

Upon returning home I Googled the toyline and we discovered that there was indeed a complete 'I-Fell Tower' playset. My intern and I then spent the next hour or so building and smashing!

I just LOVE how much this set calls upon the Flintstones and their silly non-scientifically-accurate dino/human/modern stone age family aesthetic.

Pardon my French, but this shit is epic.

And of all the sets, the Brontosaurus is of course the greatest because it's based on the most iconic of Flintstones moments - the 'quitting time' Fred Flintstone slide off the gravel-pit Brontosaurus machine Yabba-Dabba-DOOOOO!!!!

The set's stackables can be knocked down with the Brontosaur's front mounted wrecking ball. There's also a trigger mechanism that can be sprung by hitting a target on the base with the dinosaur's tail, causing the whole thing to topple down!

Literal hours of fun.

This playset is a ton of fun. Now I just need to find an official Fred Flintstone to set in the driver's seat!

Imaginext Gorilla Mountain Playset

Last Christmas we presented the Toyriffic Intern with the Imaginext Gorilla Mountain Jungle Playset. We found the set at a flea market for ten bucks and it came with all the animals you see here, as well as a tiger-striped Humvee!

She was pretty excited about it and all the animals it came with.Here she is with the Rhino and the 'Himmo-Thomas.'

The baboon on the right isn't Fisher-Price but was part of the flea market purchase. The cave he is in may also be from some other toyline. Otherwise, it's all Fisher-Price Imaginext stuff, if not specifically from the Gorilla Mountain playset originally. I personally appreciate the Gorilla and the playset itself, as they remind me of Gorilla Grodd and Gorilla City.

We have plenty of DC Super Friends Imaginext figures, so someday we'll have to mash them up. But for now my Intern is happy playing with her jungle animals. They are all pretty cool, and each has a little unique action feature - the hippo's mouth opens, the rhino juts his head forward, one lion actually roars...all good stuff!

Tim Mee does it again!

Not one to rest on their laurels after re-releasing the wonderfully kitschy Galaxy Laser Team, Tim Mee has now re-released their classic Cavemen figurines set, the massive Battle Mountain playset, and even a slew of military vehicles to go along with your little green army men!

I gotta tell ya', I don't know if Toyriffic's internship program is helping or if it's causing me MORE work and stress!

Here's our intern setting up the shot. 'You need more cavemen on this ledge, daddy!'

The cavemen are just great. I never owned any of these as a kid, but wish I had, considering how many Imperial dinosaurs I owned. They would have made the perfect fodder! I also love the vastly different designs. I'm pretty sure the second from the left is the leader!

You get 48 cavemen in a bag - split into two colors: tan and red. They come in 'Rock thrower,' 'Club wielder,' 'Shillelagh swinger' and 'Hatchet heaver' styles!

A lot of detail is packed into their diminutive stature too, check out that knife on his belt! He'll flatten you then fillet you! And of course just the concept of a rock about to be dropped on the heads of his tan hued foes is enough to get any red blooded American kid excited!

And speaking of exciting...

"Voila! My masterpiece is finished."

This Battle Mountain Playset is just spectacular. Why didn't I have one of these (or TEN of them) when I was a kid?!?! This thing is the perfect all purpose playset. Great for the cavemen, or amry men, or any little figures...mine is destined to become part of a mini Batcave display very soon! This thing is so simple yet so amazingly versatile. I just love it!

Finally, here's one of the newly released military vehicles. This is the tan armored military scout. These vehicles were apparently old stock left over from the last production run before Processed Plastic was sold!

I remember having so many different military vehicles to go along with my little green army men back in the day, but many of them were scaled much smaller than the figures themselves, and few rolled along very well. I must have had a lot of cheap sets!

This one is much better designed than what I remember. It's pretty well scaled to the figurines, and does a great job of mowing over cavemen who get a little too unruly!

The wheels roll nicely and the turret turns smoothly too!

It holds a lot of 'troops' as well!

These Tim Mee toys are all highly recommended if you are into recapturing the magic of the plastic figurines of your youth, and I can't recommend the Battle Mountain Playset highly enough due to it's versatility and display value! It's just keen!

You can get the bag of 48 tan and red Cavemen,
the Battle Mountain Playset, 
the tan armored scout vehicle,
and a number of other vehicles as well,
not to mention the Galaxy Laser Team
on Amazon.com right now!

Cavemen vs. Skateboarders. Oh the humanity!

During the photoshoot, my intern decided to upend all the bags of figures I was shooting.

Of course, keeping them on the table became an exercise in futility after mere seconds. I'm going to be stepping on cavemen and skateboarders for months!

The cavemen do seem to have the upper hand!

In addition to taking over the whole photoshoot, my intern also insisted on wearing my shirt! You just can't get good free help these days!

The battle for Battle Mountain is over. It appears one lone skateboarder has survived...

"That what HE think! Bombs awaaaaay!"