Mirage Trio

The early 2000s o-ring repaints were a surprise among the new t-crotch figures. I didn’t expect to see Vipers (both regular and Alley) among the newly created figures. Among the Joes was a late ARAH figure that would make its way to many army builders’ extras bins–the good old Mirage mold. Originating in the oft-maligned Mega Marines sub-team, he was

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Tele-Vipers (1985)

What do successful and long-lasting toy properties have in common? How about a memorable and ubiquitous enemy? From Megatron’s Decepticons to Skeletor’s Evil Masters to Cobra Commander’s minions, any bad guys worth their salt had a variety of troops at their disposal. What separates Cobra though from the others–an amazingly diversified cadre of specialists. The Tele-Vipers stand out to me

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Toxo Trooper (Black Major)

I’ve probably said this way too many times during the life of the blog, but I don’t really care if I repeat myself–I loves me some color in my toys. They are toys after all, and if they have that magic combination of sculpt, playability and color to catch my eye, that’s a plus. If the color alone catches my

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Micro Force Grunt

By Past Nastification “Deformed” toys typically hold little appeal for me. Star Wars Galactic Buddies, or whatever they’re called… The cutesy Marvel figures with oversized eyes… Anything ever made by Pop… I just don’t get the adoration. So imagine my self-loathing when I discovered that I liked the GI Joe Micro Force mini-figures from 2012. Micro Force was one of

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Clutch (1983)

Clutch was my favorite character in the early Marvel comics issues. Rather than a cookie cutter personality, he was a colorful and opinionated (to put it mildly) presence among his teammates. His back and forth with his comrades made for the kind of character interaction that drew me into the world. As a figure, he’s also unique. It would have

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