The recent releases of Corsair, Ch'od, and Ch'reee in the Marvel Legends line have me very excited for future Starjammers figures. There is something about late 70's and early 80's creations of Dave Cockrum that thrill me. He is most well known for his work on the X-Men, having created Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus. (I'm personally also a big fan of his creator-owned property, The Futurians). But one of his big creations that doesn't often get a chance to shine is The Starjammers, a colorful group of space pirates introduced in X-Men #104 in 1977. And although I love this whole team, the character Hepzibah was always my favorite. Her abilities were a little generic: Superhuman strength, agility, blah blah blah. But her skunk appearance was so unique and cool to me that I was an instant fan. She is from the Mephitisoid race (skunks are from the family Mephitidae). Unfortunately in more modern comics, she has lost the skunk-stripes and instead looks like a white cat, but either way she is awesome.
UNITING ALL WOMEN OF PLASTIC
Showing posts with label Playskool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Playskool. Show all posts
Friday, June 16, 2023
Marvel Superhero Squad - HEPZIBAH!
Friday, February 26, 2021
Top Wing - BEA!
My fascination with preschool action figures started with Imaginext and all their DC heroes. In fact, the first Imaginext release of Catwoman was a major factor in me starting this blog. I was thinking how it was a shame Catwoman wasn't included in the line yet when I found a blog reviewing her. I was floored she existed. I became a big fan of the site, and after a few months I was inspired to launch my own. And my fascination with preschool toys has remained, but I often opt to only post the more collector-focused figures. A few years ago, Top Wing was a significant presence in the toy aisles. It features a cast of anthropomorphic birds who illogically fly planes. I think the designs are colorful and fun, but the toy line dwindled before this last set featuring the parental figure and technician, Bea, hit the shelves. She was seemingly only released in Canada (always out of stock on the Walmart Canada website and never on eBay). But then I found her in December at a discount store (Ollie's) in the US.
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Mini Power Rangers - RITA REPULSA!
With the recent announcement of the Gamestop-exclusive Lightning Collection Rita Repulsa, I realized I never posted anything on this adorable little Rita. I was pretty sad when Bandai lost the Power Rangers license to Hasbro, but it wasn't necessarily because of the collector-level 6" Legacy figures that I had been buying. Rather, I was most upset because the Power Rangers Imaginext line would also be coming to a close. Over the course of a few years, Fisher-Price had released a really fun collection of figures (including the first ever Scorpina action figure). For those collectors who dive into the preschool market, it is well known that Fisher-Price (Mattel) is much better organized and productive than Playskool (Hasbro). The Playskool Marvel line has almost no character diversity, just the same 5 guys over and over again for years. The occasionaly solicit a new character, but they are almost always cancelled.So I feared the same neglect for the Playskool Rangers (and it seems my fears are well founded).
Friday, December 27, 2019
Power Rangers - PINK RANGER!
I find it amusing that before the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toy reboot in 2010, I didn't own a single Power Rangers figure and I was basically indifferent to the property. But those new toys in 2010 were inexpensive and fun and I soon found myself hooked. I even found myself as an adult actively watching Power Rangers Dino Charge every week. Now it's a full blown category of my collection (even though I still have never seen a single episode of MMPR). This Mega Mighties Pink Ranger was quite a surprise when I found her at Target a few weeks ago. Especially considering how often the ladies are excluded from the toylines (especially the preschool lines or toys with action features for rough play). But it seems like quite possibly Playskool is turning a new leaf recently with this Pink Ranger and the Captain Marvel hitting shelves at the same time. If this trend continues the next year could be very exciting. I can imagine Rey, Spider-Gwen, Yellow Ranger, and Black Widow. Let's check out Pink Ranger below!
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Super Hero Adventures - CAPTAIN MARVEL!
Playskool has been such a disappointing company since Marvel Super Hero Squad era fizzled out a decade ago. They've managed to release only a handful of female characters since then. Their Star Wars line has the most with two Reys, Phasma, Rose, and Enfys Nest.. yes, only five. The Marvel line has two different Black Widow sculpts and a Spider-Gwen. The fact that Gamora, Hela, Scarlet Witch, or Captain Marvel haven't been included yet are sinful (I didn't list Wasp because I still have hopes they'll released the cancelled figure). But in the past two weeks I've found two surprise female additions to the oversized Mega Mighties line. These figures are 10" tall with 6 points of articulation at $9.99 price point. I must admit I wasn't always sold on these figures, but these ladies are kind of winning over (only kind of). They're still big and weird to me, but I still found myself excitedly googling to see if there was a Spider-Gwen coming (I don't think there is). It's going to be a slippery slope. Let's check out Carol below!
Saturday, July 20, 2019
The Ladies of TOP WING!
I have a real fondness for modern preschool toys. I don't normally get over-sentimental about these cute blobs of plastic, but when I walk down those toy aisles, I can't help but imagine my younger self seeing these selections and going wild. I may be exaggerating, but I feel like kid toys in the 80s were inundated by trucks, farm animals, and plushies. So seeing adorable articulated anthropomorphic action figures hanging on the pegs stirs up all kinds of (hypothetical) nostalgia. My current obsession is the Nick Jr property, Top Wing, which features a paradoxical group of bird pilots. I first noticed the puffin and penguin characters and I excitedly thought they would all be flightless birds ironically flying planes, but the Blue Jay throws that fun theme askew unfortunately. The character designs remind me of a throwback to 80's staples like Shirt-tales and the Getalong Gang, too. I especially got hooked when I started seeing non-bird characters like Betty Bat and Shirley Squirrely. Love some animal diversity! Let's check them out.
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Rescue Bots - WHIRL!
I've been really obsessed with robot toys lately. I literally just re-did a huge portion of my toy display with the sole intention of dedicating a lot more space to my burgeoning Transformers collection. I think one of the main reasons I feel so consumed by them is that I honestly never thought female robots would be something I could find in the action figure aisles. For a few decades it was quite a boys club. But now they are coming out with increasing regularity. This Whirl figure was a complete surprise to me when I found her in Target. She is from the new show Rescue Bots Academy show that premiered last month on Discovery Family. I haven't seen the show, but I love the design of this character and I'm excited to watch it when it's streaming somewhere (I imagine her to be energetic and spunky). I also expect to see more of Whirl in the toy aisle. My hopes are for one of the smaller scale figures eventually, and maybe even a blind bag or two. Time will tell. Let's check Whirl out in detail below!
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Star Wars Galactic Heroes - ROSE!
Playskool really needs to step up their game. They have access to some of the greatest character families out there, but they seem to just release the same characters over and over again...and at a snail's pace. This Rose figure was a welcome surprise, but I'm still shocked they haven't flexed their muscles with this line. There isn't even a Princess Leia or Amidala. And when they finally impressed me a few years ago with packaged solicit pics of Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren, it was inevitable that the figures would never actually hit the shelves. And I won't even get started on the Marvel line. They have access to hundreds of characters and the only female so far is Black Widow. I was 100% sure we'd see a Gamora figure, even if it was just a Natasha repaint, but there has been nothing. A Storm, Wasp, and Invisible Woman seem like really easy characters to bring in to the line, but Playskool seems to want to coast on the same handful of characters in a constant cycle. Someday they'll hopefully up their game.
Monday, July 10, 2017
Rescue Bots 12" QUICKSHADOW!
I was really shocked recently when I saw a post on TFORMERS about how Walmart was getting a special Rescue Bots display featuring a 12" Quickshadow figure. When this character first appeared in the Transformers: Rescue Bots cartoon last year, I was really excited. She had a cool name, a cool color scheme, and she transformed into a racecar (which seems like a trait typically reserved for the alpha males of the robot world). But my hopes never got that high, because I was well aware of what the action figures for this line looked like. They are blocky little monstrosities with minimal moving parts. It is a preschool series after all. And sure enough, when the first Quickshadow figure was released last Fall, she was just another androgynous brick. Now this new 12" figure isn't a super great representation of the character either, but it is definitely a huge leap in the right direction. Compared to the other 12" Rescue Bots toys, she looks like a bona fied Jessica Rabbit. Let's check out Quickshadow below!
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Rescue Bots - QUICKSHADOW!
There's been a big push in recent years to start including female characters in previously male-centric properties. This has been especially present in preschool lines like Imaginext, Galactic Heroes, and Marvel Superhero Adventures. With this trend touching almost every brand in the toy aisles, I'm surprised it took so long to introduce a female Rescue Bot. Whatever the delay was, the wait was worth it because Quicksilver seems like an awesome character. Her design is fantastic and her character seems quirky and spunky with a very suiting vehicle mode of a speedy sports car. I haven't watched any full episodes, but there are some cool clips online. The only unfortunate thing about this character is that she's unlikely to get a cool toy. These Playskool robots are clunky and undetailed by design and this kid-friendly style does a terrible injustice to such a great-looking character. Still, when I saw her in the store I felt compelled to add her to my collection. She's a first. Let's check out Quickshadow below!
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Galactic Heroes - REY (RESISTANCE OUTFIT)!
For some reason this little figure made me very excited for the next sequential Star Wars film due in 2017. Rogue One looks like it will be a great movie which will totally tide me over, but I'm itching to know what happens next with Rey, Finn, Poe and BB-8. This second Galactic Hero version of Rey features her Resistance outfit that she wore at the end of Force Awakens. It's nice to see that Playskool is continuing to produce new figures after the initial burst of products last fall and winter. In fact, I just saw images of a new (Unhelmeted) Poe and BB-8 2-Pack due out soon. In the meantime though, the only additional female figure on the horizon is a Hera Syndulla (due out any day now apparently). But that's not to say there won't be more unannounced additions. That has kind of been the pattern with recent collectible preschool lines. Maybe we'll get a random Leia and Ahsoka Tano. And then maybe the Marvel line will get on board and we'll finally see a Gamora or Scarlet Witch. I can dream. Let's check out Rey!
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Galactic Heroes - REY & CAPTAIN PHASMA!
Sometimes these preschool brands take a long time to jump on the gender equality bandwagon. This current style of preschool Star Wars figures has been around for 5 years (despite a name change), and this two pack represents the first females in the line in all that time. Of course, when it rains it pours and we just saw a Hera Syndulla figure shown at Toy Fair. Plus I'm willing to bet we'll see a Maz, ME-8D9, Wren, and a Leia in the future. Playskool has been doing its best to confuse collectors with their Star Wars lines over the past 14 years. There have been two unique iterations each of "Galactic Heroes" and "Jedi Force." And just last year they upped the ante by rebranding a line (with a recycled name) four years into its run. I'm going to go into detail later on in this post because there is a lot of confusion. Rest assured though, this Rey and Phasma 2-pack are the first Star Wars females in this style (but hopefully not the last!) Let's check out Rey (Jakku) and Captain Phasma in detail below!
Friday, September 5, 2014
Transformers Rescue Bots - DANI BURNS!
Something is going on this Summer with all the popular preschool toy lines. For years we've seen more and more toy aisle real estate being taken over by Preschool-age action figures. Imaginext, Marvel Super Hero Adventures, Star Wars Jedi Force, and of course Transformers Rescue Bots, are all the rage, but the lines have been notoriously void of female characters since their inception. Yet this Summer we suddenly have Black Widow as the first Marvel lady, Wendy Waters as the first non-DCU female Imaginext, and now suddenly we get Dani Burns as the first Rescue Bots figure. I don't know what is prompting this long-overdue diversity, but I welcome it with open arms. Rescue Bots is a cartoon and toy line about a group of four (non-canon) Transformers (Chase the Police Car, Blade the Helicopter, Heatwave the Firetruck, and Boulder the Bulldozer) and the Burns family who team up/pilot the Bots for various rescue missions. Considering the small cast, it's surprising we haven't seen Dani until now.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Marvel Super Hero Adventures BLACK WIDOW!
I've been patiently waiting for a female in the Marvel Super Hero Adventures line for years. The previous incarnation of Marvel preschool toys, Superhero Squad, had an amazingly complex number of female heroes and villain in the line. I literally have dozens of females on my SHS shelf. The Marvel Super Hero Adventures figures are slightly larger and more durable. I was initially hesitant to jump on board another preschool line after my beloved SHS dwindled to a halt, but then Fisher-Price / Mattel ramped up their DC Superfriends Imaginext line and my hiatus was over. There have been an underwhelming number of females in the DC lines (Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy), but they were still leaps and bounds ahead of the Marvel toys. This Black Widow figure was bought from an eBay seller in China and represents the very first female in the line. Who know how she will be released. Maybe singularly, maybe in a 2-Pack, maybe a big multipack. Only time will tell. Let's check her out!
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
The Buggy Ladies of GLO FRIENDS!
I know a review like this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but the mantra of this blog is "Uniting All Women of Plastic", and that means all. I'm aware that the vast majority of my readership is anchored in the superhero arena, but I'm hoping that there's just as much interest in the awesome nostalgic 80's properties out there as well - because I'll be sure to pepper reviews like this in every few months. In 1982, Hasbro created a plush toy sensation in the form of Glo Worm. The "Glo" brand immediately took off and soon spawned a series of books, cartoons, and a popular line of small glow-in-the-dark figures called Glo Friends. I think every child of the 80's had at least one of these. They were the default stocking stuffers for years in my family, but I eventually melted or destroyed them all. In 1986, these figures hit the market under the new-ish Hasbro subsidiary, Playskool (although some of the packaging still lists the maker as "Hasbro Preschool"). There were 28 figures in all. Let's check out my favorite three below!
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