Video Spotlight:
Pictorial Review:
To order your own set of these figures, head here: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classic Collection 1990 Movie Action Figure Set from Entertainment Earth!
Monday, August 11, 2014
TMNT Month!
Toy Talk Review:
Playmates Classic Collection
1990 Movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, & Raphael
With a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film hitting theaters, we here at Action Features thought this would be the perfect time to put the spotlight on the fearsome foursome's first foray onto the big screen: The Original 1990 TMNT movie! All month long, we'll be sprinkling content related to that film here at the site... starting today with a mega-review of Playmates brand new Classic Collection 1990 Movie Turtles figures!
Video Spotlight:
Pictorial Review:
To order your own set of these figures, head here: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classic Collection 1990 Movie Action Figure Set from Entertainment Earth!
Video Spotlight:
Pictorial Review:
To order your own set of these figures, head here: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Classic Collection 1990 Movie Action Figure Set from Entertainment Earth!
Friday, August 1, 2014
Action Features Podcast Episode 64:
The One Where It Was Time To Turn On The Charm
8/1/2014
Hey party people... Action Features is here! Yeah, they missed last week due to some technical difficulties, but this episode definitely makes up for it. How you ask? Well, the boys start it off by sharing their thoughts on the goings-on over at SDCC- Ya know, things like toys, movies, comics, and the like. They then follow it up with a lengthy discussion on that forgotten sitcom gem of the 80's: Night Dads. Don't remember Night Dads? Oh, then this episode is definitely for you. All that AND a letter from the number one fan of Action Features... What are you waiting for? Time for the show...
Also available on iTunes here (though it may take a little longer to show up)- Action Features on iTunes!
Also available on iTunes here (though it may take a little longer to show up)- Action Features on iTunes!
Friday, July 11, 2014
Action Features Podcast Episode 63:
The One Where Jimmy Fallon Hasn’t Given Us Any Credit
7/11/2014
Yo peeps. Miss us? Well, you should have because we were gone longer than usual. There was a good excuse this time though- James' wife had a baby... So back off why don't ya? Geez. Anyways... In this installment, the boys spend half the episode catching up on current events like the 25th anniversary of Batman '89, the proper use of the word "weary", and Blaze's birthday wants. The latter half of the episode features one of their trademark top five lists: The Top 5 Current Mass-Market Toy Lines! So get plugged in... Time for Action Features.
Also available on iTunes here (though it may take a little longer to show up)- Action Features on iTunes!
Also available on iTunes here (though it may take a little longer to show up)- Action Features on iTunes!
More Muscles, Please!
A Retrospective On Star Wars Toys From 1995
Mike Beckett heads back to a time not-so-long ago & a galaxy not-so-far away in today's editorial....
I was born in 1982, so I had just barely missed the Star Wars toy craze. And although I do remember getting a brand new Speeder Bike for Christmas one year (must have been a straggler on the shelves at Big Lots), all of my Star Wars toys were used, collected from cousins or kids up the street. In fact, I didn't know who any of the characters were until the day when I was lucky enough to catch Return of the Jedi on TV.
I recognized the characters immediately, and was hooked. For several years I scrounged and traded for all the Star Wars toys I could get. But there weren't many. This was before the internet, and I was too young to drive myself to flea markets and all that.
I spent hours with my nose in Tomart's toy guides, or whatever I could get, dreaming that one day some new Star Wars toys were made.
Then there were the bendies.... Those didn't quite scratch the itch. I passed those on the shelves, and after disappointment set in, I knew in my heart that I'd never be able to walk into a store and buy a Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader action figure.
But we all know by now that I was wrong.
1995 rolled around and a new line of Star Wars toys from Kenner was announced. I remember it being big news, and when those first images were shown, it was like a dream coming true. A bulky, exaggerated, muscular dream. ...You know what I'm talking about. I mean, it had been a long decade since any Star Wars toys had seen store shelves.
We all bought them. The line did so well, in fact, that we got wave after wave of figures until just about every character from the trilogy had gotten the plastic treatment.
Then we "grew up". Hasbro bought out Kenner, and the sculpts seemed to get better, and we got greedy.
No, really. We got too big for our britches.
For years in my adult life, I worked at a vintage toy store where Star Wars figures from 1977 and up were readily available. And they all got a "pass", except that orange and green card series. We laughed at them and turned our noses up. I mean, even though she was hard to find in '95, who really liked "monkey-face" Leia?
What was Kenner thinking? Why was every figure muscle-bound, packaged with oversized guns and accessories? The best answer I've been able to come up with is simply that it was the 90's. Toy companies saw muscles as money. Or maybe they were loosely styled after Marvel Comics’ interpretation. Either way, how else would you know if Lando had a six pack unless Kenner sculpted it for us? (You know you were wondering).
We were enamored with the Saga collection, Power of the Jedi, and the beloved VOTC line, and we thought Hasbro had finally done the right thing. And they did. It was time to move on, I suppose.
But after all the smoke has cleared, and my "collection" doesn't really exist anymore, all of the "better" lines have fallen to the wayside, and I find myself nostalgic only for that first wave of beefed-up iconic characters from 1995.
Call me crazy. I know, I know... they're considered a joke. So why in the (star) world would I be thinking fondly about those?
For starters, I guess they remind me of that time when I was still mostly innocent, and was able to enjoy toys.
But I think it goes deeper than that.
This new line from Hasbro, the Saga Legends, has tipped me off to a little secret that somehow eluded me all these years. Back in 1995, it was fun. That’s right. Kenner knew they'd make money, sure, but it seemed that the spirit of fun was put into their work, guided it, even.
I didn't work for Kenner, but I have to imagine it was a thrill to be working on a new toy line for the property that put them on the map in the first place. And I think it showed. Go ahead, look at some pictures or dig out those figures you still have in your closet because you thought one day they would pay for your college tuition. Are you going to tell me you have no love there?
We've been jaded by 6,000 points of articulation (which proper proportions were sacrificed for) and ultra-detailed sculpts and tiny little clear-plastic bands to hold weapons in place and $12 price points. If we we’re paying more, it must mean we have matured… Right? "This is a collectible. I must be all grown up..."
But that got me burned out a long time ago. And now I see that what I have been doing all along, is just trying to regain the experiences of my childhood, to revisit that feeling of excitement and innocence. I don't believe I'm alone, here. Some of you might not admit that, and some of you might still be feeling that way. If so, that’s great. More power (of the Force) to you.
But for the rest of you chaps out there breaking the bank trying to fill that void, I implore that you step back, take a breath, and ask yourself if you're still having fun with it. If the answer is “No”, then maybe your younger self can point you in the right direction.
-Mike
I was born in 1982, so I had just barely missed the Star Wars toy craze. And although I do remember getting a brand new Speeder Bike for Christmas one year (must have been a straggler on the shelves at Big Lots), all of my Star Wars toys were used, collected from cousins or kids up the street. In fact, I didn't know who any of the characters were until the day when I was lucky enough to catch Return of the Jedi on TV.
I recognized the characters immediately, and was hooked. For several years I scrounged and traded for all the Star Wars toys I could get. But there weren't many. This was before the internet, and I was too young to drive myself to flea markets and all that.
I spent hours with my nose in Tomart's toy guides, or whatever I could get, dreaming that one day some new Star Wars toys were made.
Then there were the bendies.... Those didn't quite scratch the itch. I passed those on the shelves, and after disappointment set in, I knew in my heart that I'd never be able to walk into a store and buy a Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader action figure.
But we all know by now that I was wrong.
1995 rolled around and a new line of Star Wars toys from Kenner was announced. I remember it being big news, and when those first images were shown, it was like a dream coming true. A bulky, exaggerated, muscular dream. ...You know what I'm talking about. I mean, it had been a long decade since any Star Wars toys had seen store shelves.
We all bought them. The line did so well, in fact, that we got wave after wave of figures until just about every character from the trilogy had gotten the plastic treatment.
Then we "grew up". Hasbro bought out Kenner, and the sculpts seemed to get better, and we got greedy.
No, really. We got too big for our britches.
For years in my adult life, I worked at a vintage toy store where Star Wars figures from 1977 and up were readily available. And they all got a "pass", except that orange and green card series. We laughed at them and turned our noses up. I mean, even though she was hard to find in '95, who really liked "monkey-face" Leia?
What was Kenner thinking? Why was every figure muscle-bound, packaged with oversized guns and accessories? The best answer I've been able to come up with is simply that it was the 90's. Toy companies saw muscles as money. Or maybe they were loosely styled after Marvel Comics’ interpretation. Either way, how else would you know if Lando had a six pack unless Kenner sculpted it for us? (You know you were wondering).
We were enamored with the Saga collection, Power of the Jedi, and the beloved VOTC line, and we thought Hasbro had finally done the right thing. And they did. It was time to move on, I suppose.
But after all the smoke has cleared, and my "collection" doesn't really exist anymore, all of the "better" lines have fallen to the wayside, and I find myself nostalgic only for that first wave of beefed-up iconic characters from 1995.
Call me crazy. I know, I know... they're considered a joke. So why in the (star) world would I be thinking fondly about those?
For starters, I guess they remind me of that time when I was still mostly innocent, and was able to enjoy toys.
But I think it goes deeper than that.
This new line from Hasbro, the Saga Legends, has tipped me off to a little secret that somehow eluded me all these years. Back in 1995, it was fun. That’s right. Kenner knew they'd make money, sure, but it seemed that the spirit of fun was put into their work, guided it, even.
I didn't work for Kenner, but I have to imagine it was a thrill to be working on a new toy line for the property that put them on the map in the first place. And I think it showed. Go ahead, look at some pictures or dig out those figures you still have in your closet because you thought one day they would pay for your college tuition. Are you going to tell me you have no love there?
We've been jaded by 6,000 points of articulation (which proper proportions were sacrificed for) and ultra-detailed sculpts and tiny little clear-plastic bands to hold weapons in place and $12 price points. If we we’re paying more, it must mean we have matured… Right? "This is a collectible. I must be all grown up..."
But that got me burned out a long time ago. And now I see that what I have been doing all along, is just trying to regain the experiences of my childhood, to revisit that feeling of excitement and innocence. I don't believe I'm alone, here. Some of you might not admit that, and some of you might still be feeling that way. If so, that’s great. More power (of the Force) to you.
But for the rest of you chaps out there breaking the bank trying to fill that void, I implore that you step back, take a breath, and ask yourself if you're still having fun with it. If the answer is “No”, then maybe your younger self can point you in the right direction.
-Mike
Friday, June 13, 2014
Action Features Podcast Episode 62:
The One Where Bobbi Will Probably Just Watch Little Monsters Again
6/13/2014
Time for another free-for-all episode of Action Features! Bet you guys love those. In this installment, James & Mike cover a veritable potpourri of topics- The Legends of Cthulhu Kickstarter campaign from Warpo Toys, Mattel's Baby Skeletor, why comics aren't for kids anymore, Harrison Ford's injured ankle, and Mark Hamill's dreamy Jedi eyes. Oh yeah... They also have a lengthy discussion about all the films James' wife Bobbi hasn't seen (I guess she is more of a reader). All that AND a special call-in guest at the end! What more could you want! Nothing, that's what. So get to it... time for Action Features.
Also available on iTunes here (though it may take a little longer to show up)- Action Features on iTunes!
Also available on iTunes here (though it may take a little longer to show up)- Action Features on iTunes!
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