thriftcrawler 11/11/05

11/11/05

01. 12 He-Man action figures and 1 Thundercats action figure

I think I may have mentioned this before, but I was never into He-Man as a kid. I sometimes played with the toys at a friend's house, but I never owned any and I rarely watched the cartoon. Somewhat mysteriously, the all-encompassing He-Man craze slipped by me and I ended up devoting most of my attention to Transformers and G.I. Joes.

That said, the figures themselves are colorful, fun, and completely wacky - and I'm actually kinda surprised that I remember playing with some of these guys over 20 years ago... although I can still only name one or two of them (which explains why I used this site to refresh my memory.)

I never had any Thundercats toys either (apart from a Snarf pencil-topper from Burger King,) but I was into the cartoon. Along with Lady Jaye and The Baroness from G.I. Joe, Cheetara was one of my Weird Pre-Teen Cartoon Crushes. I think most young boys have this type of crush at some point, mostly because animated women are easy to talk to and don't have cooties.

So. All of these toys came in three separate bags from Red White & Blue. Each bag was $1.95. I feel it's important I also mention that one of the bags contained a headless rubber muscleman figure as well...

01. Mumm-Ra (...the Ever-Living!!)
It's kinda weird to see Mumm-Ra without his fancy headress and all... bald. Still, it's Mumm-Ra: one of the lesser-known but cooler villains in the pantheon of cartoon evildoers. For those of you who don't know, Mumm-Ra is the sole Thundercats figure in today's haul. The He-Man deluge starts below.

02. Man-E-Faces - "Human...Robot...Monster!"
Select-a-face via the dial conveniently located atop Man-E's head. This is one of the He-Man figures I actually remember well. His spinning wheel of faces fascinated me for some reason.

03. Rio Blast - "Heroic Transforming Gun-Slinger!"
Lots of cheesy names amongst the He-Man ranks, but this one's pretty high up there. Looks vaguely like Chuck Norris.

04. Mer-Man - ???
Kinda boring, really. And I can't seem to find out what his packaging description was.

05. Stinkor - "Evil Master of Odors!"
Even after 20 years, this guy still retains some of his "skunk scent". Amazing! Bonus fact: Stinkor is a repaint of Mer-Man (with different armor.)

06. Tri-Klops - "Sees Everything!"
"Can See Your Panties... Right Now!" So yeah, you twist this guy's visor around for day, night and "sees around corners" eyes. What??

07. Thunder Punch He-Man - "Leader of the Heroic Warriors now packs a loud Power Punch!"
So this version of He-Man came with cap rings (y'know, for cap guns) which you'd insert into his back. You would then proceed to twist and release his waist, whereupon a loud BANG would frighten your shell-shocked grandfather.

08. Jitsu - "Evil Master of Martial Arts!"
Hmm, another Evil Master of Something. FACT: mastery of martial arts > mastery of odors. Anyway, he's missing his armor, but his shiny gold hand is still in tact! I'm rich!

09. Mantenna - "Evil Spy with the Pop-Out Eyes!"
Member of the Evil Horde. Cool name, lame power. Pull a lever on his back and his eye stalks bug out. Fag.

10. Hordak - "Ruthless Leader of the EVIL HORDE!"
Pretty cool villainous character design for this guy. Like the other figures in this list with no "action feature" description, you twist his waist and he punches. Excuse me, Power Punches.

11. Stratos - "Winged Warrior!"
Probably one of the lamest He-Man figures of all time. He's got gaudy Dame Edna glasses on, a dumb apelike grin on his face, and he's almost completely gray. Except for his panties which are baby blue. Bleh.

12. Orko - ???
Pictured here without his wizard hat, Orko was an annoying little ghost-like creature who was seemingly added to the cartoon to make it more goofy and kid-friendly. Everyone - characters on the show and kids watching at home alike - hated and wished death upon him.

13. Zoar - "Fighting Falcon!"
Packaged alone or with Teela, undoubtedly a source of nascent sexual stirrings for other young boys. Teela, not the bird. He-Man.org says that Zoar's action figure re-used a mold from 1972's Big Jim Eagle set from Mattel. BIG JILM!

02. Super Nintendo mouse and Sega CD game

The SNES mouse came packaged with the excellent Mario Paint game (it might've been sold separately as well,) and was compatible with a handful of other games that mainly used it as an afterthought or novelty. Still, I'm a collector, y'know? 95 cents at RW&B.

Mark my words, one of these days I will find a Sega CD system at a thrift store or flea market. It may be tomorrow, it may be next year, it may even be YESTERDAY - but I will have my prize! Then... and only then... will I be able to play all these damn Sega CD games I've been picking up. $2.95 at RW&B.

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01.	Mumm-Ra (...the Ever-Living!!) It's kinda weird to see Mumm-Ra without his fancy headress and all... bald. Still, it's Mumm-Ra: one of the lesser-known but cooler villains in the pantheon of cartoon evildoers. For those of you who don't know, Mumm-Ra is the sole Thundercats figure in today's haul. The He-Man deluge starts below.
02.	Man-E-Faces - "Human...Robot...Monster!" Select-a-face via the dial conveniently located atop Man-E's head. This is one of the He-Man figures I actually remember well. His spinning wheel of faces fascinated me for some reason.
03.	Rio Blast - "Heroic Transforming Gun-Slinger!" Lots of cheesy names amongst the He-Man ranks, but this one's pretty high up there. Looks vaguely like Chuck Norris.
04.	Mer-Man - ??? Kinda boring, really. And I can't seem to find out what his packaging description was.
05.	Stinkor - "Evil Master of Odors!" Even after 20 years, this guy still retains some of his "skunk scent". Amazing! Bonus fact: Stinkor is a repaint of Mer-Man (with different armor.)
06.	Tri-Klops - "Sees Everything!" "Can See Your Panties... Right Now!" So yeah, you twist this guy's visor around for day, night and "sees around corners" eyes. What??
07.	Thunder Punch He-Man - "Leader of the Heroic Warriors now packs a loud Power Punch!" So this version of He-Man came with cap rings (y'know, for cap guns) which you'd insert into his back. You would then proceed to twist and release his waist, whereupon a loud BANG would frighten your shell-shocked grandfather.
08.	Jitsu - "Evil Master of Martial Arts!" Hmm, another Evil Master of Something. FACT: mastery of martial arts > mastery of odors. Anyway, he's missing his armor, but his shiny gold hand is still in tact! I'm rich!
09.	Mantenna - "Evil Spy with the Pop-Out Eyes!" Member of the Evil Horde. Cool name, lame power. Pull a lever on his back and his eye stalks bug out. Fag.
10.	Hordak - "Ruthless Leader of the EVIL HORDE!" Pretty cool villainous character design for this guy. Like the other figures in this list with no "action feature" description, you twist his waist and he punches. Excuse me, Power Punches.
11.	Stratos - "Winged Warrior!" Probably one of the lamest He-Man figures of all time. He's got gaudy Dame Edna glasses on, a dumb apelike grin on his face, and he's almost completely gray. Except for his panties which are baby blue. Bleh.
12.	Orko - ??? Pictured here without his wizard hat, Orko was an annoying little ghost-like creature who was seemingly added to the cartoon to make it more goofy and kid-friendly. Everyone - characters on the show and kids watching at home alike - hated and wished death upon him.
13.	Zoar - "Fighting Falcon!" Packaged alone or with Teela, undoubtedly a source of nascent sexual stirrings for other young boys. Teela, not the bird. He-Man.org says that Zoar's action figure re-used a mold from 1972's Big Jim Eagle set from Mattel. BIG JILM!