Toy Tribute: Galoob Star Trek: The Next Generation Starfleet Officers

When I think of Galoob, I think of Micro Machines, not action figures. It turns out that Galoob did produce a few action figure lines, but none were particularly memorable (at least, to me). Case in point: a few years before Playmates scored the Star Trek: The Next Generation license and began producing its now famous (and in some ways infamous) action figure line, Galoob held the license and produced a less commonly-known line of 3 3/4" scale figures from the first season of the show. In this Toy Tribute, let's take a look at Galoob's take on the crew of the Enterprise D.

Retro Toy Review: 11-inch Krang's Android Body (Playmates TMNT)

As a Mirage TMNT kid, one of the culture shocks I had to endure while adjusting to the classic Fred Wolf cartoon was the weird transformation of the Utrom into Krang. Sure, they resemble each other in that they're both brain aliens controlling androids from the robots' stomachs. But the two personalities are diametrical to one another. The Utroms comprised of a race of "brain-people" who crash-landed on Earth and disguised themselves as humans in robotic exo-suits while they built a tranmat device to send them home. In contrast, Krang was a dastardly evil alien from Dimension X who commanded an army of rock soldiers in his rotund robot. Not only that, but the exo-suits are radically different. So, as much as I loved the Utroms from the TMNT comic, Krang was a hard pill to swallow at first. But he's a colorful and fun character independent of his Utrom origin, and I learned to appreciate him for what he was.

Retro Toy Review: Thomas Riker (Playmates Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Star Trek: The Next Generation fans will likely remember the episode "Second Chances" in which it is revealed that Commander Riker has a genetic clone produced by a transporter accident earlier in his career. Then-Lieutenant Riker was assigned to the USS Potemkin, tasked with the mission of exploring an alien planet. Riker beamed down to investigate, but while he was transporting back up, a second annular confinement beam was initiated to adjust for the planet's unique atmospheric disturbances. That second beam allowed Riker to transport back to the Potemkin, but it also created a second, identical Riker, who was returned to the surface. Riker on the Potemkin, unaware of his doppleganger, went along his merry way... until some years later when the Enterprise (along with now-Commander Riker) returned and discovered his castaway twin.

Toy Pix: Glyaxia Wave Part II - Hades Pheyden and Echo Morph Pheyden

The recent release of a new Glyos wave prodded me to finish up the toy pix from my last shipment. The final figures from this Glyaxia shipment include Hades Pheyden and Echo Morph Pheyden, two "premium" figures that you could buy after you finished the Glyaxia Passcode game.

Toy Tribute: Dinobots Wave 1 (Transformers Generation 1)

I suppose you can classify kids into types based on their interests. Some kids are "policeman" kids. Some are "truck" kids. Me? I was a "dinosaur" kid. I loved checking out the awesome dinosaur skeletons in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. My favorite book was Ranger Rick's Dinosaur Book. And my Disney Land was Dinosaur Land. There was a lot of cool stuff that I loved in my childhood, but at my core, I was always a dinosaur kid.