The Story of Your Toys

Oh man, they did Leia dirty so many times.

princess-leia-imperial-captive_Big_5.jpg

Princess-Leia_Big_5.webp
 
joshsquash729 said:
How did you get one of my home movies?

Really though- when even your Princess Leia figure looks like a buff man in drag, you know you've got a bit of a masculinity problem. 😂

s-l1600.webp
Click to expand...
I always thought that Leia looked a bit like Harrison Ford in drag. Wondered if it was supposed to be Han & Leia's kid. Like, maybe this was Kylo Ren's real issue...he just wanted to be a Princess like his mom, but the pressure to be a Jedi just got to him? If he'd been able to just be his authentic self, maybe Snoke wouldn't have been able to turn him to the Dark Side. Snoke...dirty old man in his gold shiny dress, preying on poor Ben's confusion.
 
Entry #2:

GI Joe is my favorite childhood toy line. As a kid I mostly had characters from the 1987-1990 lines. In the early 2000's when I got my own income, I tracked down just about every GI Joe from 1982-1995 including HTF stuff like Night Force. This was JUST before the nostalgia boom took the aftermarket prices up, up, up. The vast majority of my vintage Joes are complete with file cards (I gots ta have those file cards!)

In the late 2000s I got my first apartment, a classy bachelor pad with a walk in closet that I had no practical use for, so it became my GI Joe room. I wanted a place to display my collection so I drew up plans for a custom GI Joe shelf and my dad, being the handyman that he was, helped me make it. It is big enough to display every GI Joe from 1982-1987 (my favorite years) comfortably, it has a groove cut into the rear of each shelf to put each figure's file card, and it was designed to fit perfectly into one particular nook of the closet. When we moved into our house, the shelf, of course went with and still displays my vintage GI Joes proudly.

My dad passed away unexpectedly last December. This shelf is a minuscule example of the things he helped me, my brother, my wife, and my children with during his life.

Yo Joe!

83Yx3Lt.jpeg
 
I think I've told this story on the fwoosh boards, so apologies if you've heard this one lol

I've been a collector of many things over the years, but I got into action figures with McFarlane when he dropped wave 1 of DC Multiverse in 2020. Since then I've branched out and I have things from all over, from 1/18 scale to Hot Toys, I collect all kinds of stuff. But when it comes to grails, there is one thing that stands out:

Picture it: 1987, I'm just about 5 years old. Transformers is my obsession, I hadn't discovered TMNT yet. I watched the animated movie on repeat. I had to have the toys, just like everyone else. My parents and I were at Toys R US for something, I think they were shopping for a birthday gift for my cousin, and they told me to go "look at the toys." This being the 1980's, it was apparently safe to have your 5yr old kid go wander the store by themself while you shopped elsewhere 🤣 (did I mention my Dad was a cop?)

Anyway, I naturally find the Transformers section and behold! There he was...in all his brand-new shiny box glory...Ultra Magnus. To this day I do not know why, but Magnus was the one I absolutely needed above all others from that movie. He was just so cool! And this was the very first time I had ever seen him in person. The absolute first. I held him in my hands, and I was spellbound. Eventually, my dad came around the corner and hollered at me that it was time to go, but I couldn't put Magnus down. My dad walked over to me and repeated himself.

"I can't take my eyes off it," I told him, literally not taking my eyes off of it. And I have never forgotten what came next. He kneeled down next to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and softly said "hey, buddy, look at me." And I did. And he smiled. And then he said "ok, you took your eyes off of it, now put it down we gotta go."

I was heartbroken. A few moments later, the thought dawned on me - he didn't buy it for me because they brought me here to surprise me, and it's in the car right now! But, alas, it wasn't. I never saw another Ultra Magnus, not in-store, not in my hands. Never. Not until earlier this year, fast forwards to April 2025 and during a video we were making for our youtube channel my fiance surprised me Live with a package. And when I opened it up, there was vintage Ultra Magnus. Loose, but complete. And he sits now as one of the centerpieces of my collection.

I told my dad that story a year or two back, he had absolutely zero recollection of it. But it's something I've never forgotten, I even remember what the aisle smelled like. I guess it's technically a trauma thing lol But anyway, it had a happy ending because I got him! Yeah! lol I could have bought him many times over the years, there's always a few on ebay, but I just never pulled the trigger. Always hoped to find one in the wild somewhere and complete that childhood dream. My lady completed it for me, and Ultra Magnus is awesome.
 
Great story, Smallville. Ultra Magnus was a big deal for me as a kid too. I think, in fact, that he was the last Transformer I got in my youth. Which was weird, because I definitely had others that came out after him already, like Punch/Counterpunch, Targetmasters, Terrorcons. Found him at a local five and dime type store. He was the first real Autobot leader I had. No Optimus, no Rodimus. I kept UM as pristine as I could, never lost any accessories after doing that so much with every other TF leading up to him. Still have my original.
 
I had a select few Transformers as a kid but they took so much of a beating from play that I don't have any more of them.........EXCEPT for Ultra Magnus who I vividly remember getting for Christmas. He's awesome. I picked up the main cast of the 86 movie when Hasbro did the Studio Series but I passed on the SS Ultra Magnus because I had no desire to replace my vintage one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top