AFFILIATE LINK: Glow In The Dark Jumbo Kenner Alien (SDCC-Exclusive)

Gentle Giant Ltd. is proud to bring you another piece of toy history with their 2014 SDCC Exclusive Glow in the Dark Alien Jumbo Kenner-inspired Figure! Gentle Giant Ltd. has taken an original 18-inch tall Kenner Alien figure, rescaled it to a staggering 24-inches tall, and made it glow! Limited edition size of 250 pieces worldwide. This gargantuan Jumbo figure possesses features based on the original, such as the white teeth and a 100% Glow-In-The-Dark body. No detail has been overlooked. This enormous figure even features mechanically-activated jaws, just like the original! Packed in an Alien-inspired collector box, the Alien Kenner-inspired Jumbo Figure is a must-have for toy hunters from all generations! Ages 14 and up! 

Order your GITD Jumbo Kenner Alien from Entertainment Earth now!

FEATURE: LoEB ''Young Love''

We're back from our hiatus - just in time for this week's League of Extraordinary Bloggers!

AFFILIATE LINK: Star Wars Boba Fett Rocket-Firing Jumbo Kenner Action Figure

Quite possibly the coolest Star Wars figure ever created is back - in 12'' form!

Gentle Giant continues to expand their line of Jumbo-sized, retro Star Wars figures with the release of intergalactic bounty hunter Boba Fett. Based upon the original Kenner release but upscaled to 12'' tall and modified to include the originally-proposed spring-loaded rocket this awesome-looking figure is available to pre-order now ahead of its April 2013 release.

Pre-order your Boba Fett Jumbo Kenner Action Figure from Entertainment Earth

NEWS: Upcoming Star Wars Vintage Collection Details

Hasbro has released some new information on their upcoming ''best of'' the Vintage line re-releases.

AFFILIATE LINK: Star Wars Yoda with Snake Jumbo Kenner Figure

One of my first experiences of the practice known as ''short packing'' came when I was - like most 70s and 80s kids - into the Star Wars action figure line. Although Jawas had been tough to find, the figure that was the real Holy Grail was the diminutive Jedi Master, Yoda. And when you look back, you can see why. Not only was the character of Yoda super-popular but the figure itself was superb, with his real cloth robe, belt, gimer stick and - coolest of all - snake accessory. Given how well-equipped (and therefore expensive to manufacture) the toy was, small wonder he was short-packed.

And now he's coming back, but this time in Jumbo form!

This incredible recreation of the classic figure features all the original accessories and even repro packaging from the 1981 release, boosted to 6'' tall (to remain in-scale with the other Jumbo Kenner Star Wars toys) and is available to pre-order now from Entertainment Earth ahead of his March 2013 release. And just like the original scale counterpart, numbers will be incredibly limited, so act fast you must, hmMMmm.

Pre-Order your Jumbo Kenner Star Wars Yoda from Entertainment Earth Now!

AFFILIATE LINK: Star Wars Vintage Wave 4

It's incredible! A wave of Star Wars figures that features characters I actually recognize!

All joking aside, this pretty awesome line-up of 12 figures features such iconic characters as Han Solo (pimpin' it Bespin-style), that blue Jedi woman, a Gamorrean Guard, an Ewok of some description, fan-favorite Darth Maul and more, all on in the classic Kenner, retro-style packaging. Nice.

Order your Star Wars Vintage Wave 4 Case of 12 Figures from Entertainment Earth now!

AFFILIATE LINK: SDCC Blue Snaggletooth Jumbo Kenner Figure

I know I sometimes complain that the modern Star Wars lines focus on a lot of secondary characters like Monj Plarg and Stooki Iig and Space Dentist Obu but, truth be told, the original line-up featured just as many minor characters. Yet, for all their limited screen time and back story, they also proved to be some of the line's most popular characters. 

Now you can recapture all the ''who is he? I've no idea but I like his face'' fun of Mos Isley Cantina patron Snaggletooth with this San Diego Comic Con-exclusive sculpt, available now as part of the Jumbo Kenner line from Gentle Giant. Standing at 12'' tall and featuring the same 5-point retro articulation rig, this version of Snaggletooth is based upon the design created by the sculptors from limited reference material - hence his silver disco boots and blue costume. And coolest of all, he's limited to just 2000 pieces. So go grab yours today!

Order your Star Wars Blue Snaggletooh SDCC 2012 Jumbo Kenner Figure Now!

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: MASK Switchblade, Rhino & Thunderhawk

I never owned any MASK toys when I was a kid and it's been a while since we featured a Classic Commercial but last night I dreamed a previously-unknown friend of the family bequeathed me his mint collection of vehicles and figures. So who am I do deny my subconscious?

VIDEO VIEW: Atomic Martians Toy Reviews Episode 63

VIDEO VIEW: Atomic Martians Toy Reviews Episode 55

It's Monday, so that means another edition of the adults-only Atomic Martians Toy Reviews. This week the guys check-out the Star Wars Boba Fett Mail Away Prototype and the Marvel's Greatest Battles Comic Pack Wonder Man and Quicksilver.

Note that due to the language and ''adult'' humour featured here, this show is for adults only.

NEWS: Six Million Dollar Man's Bigfoot

Earlier this month we brought you the news that Bif Bang Pow! had secured the rights to produce a line of 8'' tall retro-style dolls based upon the 70s sci-fi classic show The Six Million Dollar Man. Now we bring you news of one of the first figures set to be released, a modern-yet-vintage take on the very awesome original Bigfoot toy.

CLASSIC COMMERCIALS: Kenner's Stretch X-Ray

I'd never realised how much Stretch X-Ray resembled Muton/King Walder. Had I noticed this as a child I'd probably have pestered my parents for the toy, despite the limited fun the whole Stretch line of toys offered. After all, there's only so many times you can pull the limbs out of shape and watch them slowly morph back to normal, squeeze him until one limb became huge or use him as an improvised flail to smash your cousin in the face...

VIDEO VIEW: Sky Commanders

If they were to be released today, Sky Commanders would probably be capable of flight. And to me that would make them a lot less fun, as part of the appeal here is the idea of stringing zip-lines all around the house... 

VIDEO VIEW: M.A.S.K. Switchblade, Rhino and Thunder Hawk Commercial

To be honest, I'm not entirely convinced why the helicopter has to transform into a jet to become more bad-ass... But still, that aside, this is a great example of what I think is missing from child-orientated commercials now: kids using their imagination and playing with their toys. Now it's all stage school brats in light-up sneakers singing Lady Gaga songs...

VIDEO VIEW: The Real Ghostbusters Toy Commercial

Who you gonna call?

The Real Ghostbusters!

OK, for those of you who've always wondered why the cartoon was entitled ''The Real Ghostbusters,'' allow me to explain: Filmation produced a short-lived live action series in the 70s called ''Ghost Busters'' that followed the slapstick adventures of Kong, Spencer and Tracy the Gorilla as they hunted and ''busted'' various ghosts, ghouls and creepy critters. The series isn't particularly well-remembered these days (although I do recall seeing it as a child, being confused why ''that man has the gorilla's name'' and can to this day hum the theme song) and so when Columbia Pictures released their 1980s comedy Ghostbusters they kind of ''forgot'' about the show, too.

Following the movie's success, Columbia wanted to produce an animated TV show to continue the adventures (and money-spinning potential) of the Ghostbusters. However, in order to avoid confusion with The Ghost Busters, Columbia were forced to change their show's title and so - in a hilarious fit of huffiness - added the ''Real'' prefix to their show.

Oh and they also released some toys.

VIDEO VIEW: Kenner's Star Wars Toy Collection

Star Wars, toys, a camp robot. What more could you ask for on a sunny Monday morning?

I particularly like C3PO's comment toward the end - ''May the Force be with you. And your children.'' Is it just me or does that sound like some kind of threat? ''Buy these toys or an all-powerful cosmic energy will unleash its wrath upon your children.''

Anyway, we did, George Lucas made a boatload of money from it (thanks to his savvy licensing rights agreement) and now we have a Darth Vader who says ''Yippee!'' and is friends with a clumsy Rasta-frog. Had we only known...

VIDEO VIEW: Six Million Dollar Man Bionic Grip Commercial

It's the subject of some debate, but I personally fall into the ''EH-EH-EH-EH-EH'' school of thought when it comes to the noise Steve Austin's bionic powers made. I've seen it rendered as ''DUG-A-DUG-A-DUG'' but that's quite preposterous and anybody believing such nonsense is clearly suffering some form of brain fever.

Anyway, today's Video View shows the Six Million Dollar Man (which by today's standards would probably be just about enough to pay his doctor's first consultation fee) in action with his Mission to Mars Adventure Set and bionic grip. I personally never owned the Six Million Dollar Man toys, but I did quite like Oscar Goldman's exploding briefcase. But that's a tale for another time.

VIDEO VIEW: Alien Action Figure (1979)

Ah, toy manufacturers. Is there nothing they won't license? Given that Alien was an incredibly tense and at times very gory movie, it's quite surprising to see this toy even existed, let alone was advertised on TV. Keep in mind this was in the pre-Terminator 2 friendlification of the Big Bad Monster...

I actually owned this toy as a child (and passed it onto a friend, sans head-cover, just a few years ago.) My guess is the toy wasn't very popular, as I bought mine for 1.99 GBP - which was about the same price as a Star Wars figure at the time. Last time I checked, they were selling - granted in Mint Condition - for 100 times that...

It wasn't the greatest of action figures - the articulation was too limited - but it provided hours of fun spent chasing my Space Ranger Action Man...

VIDEO VIEW: Stretch Monster

Ah, gimmick-based toys...

Perhaps the best thing about these... dolls?... was that they made superb weapons. Yes, when the novelty of going ''raar!'' and stretching the... figure?... wore-off, we started using them as bludgeons to club each other during ''fun'' fights. A sock filled with wet sand? Pah. That was nothing compared to the nose-shattering, head-cracking, eyeball-loosening trauma you could inflict with ''playful'' shot from a Stretch toy...

Although my cousin had Stretch Monster, I myself owned an Elastic Heroes Hulk (a Mego toy), which, in the UK was released as part of the same ''Stretch'' line as Stretch Armstrong and Stretch Monster (both Kenner toys.) Presmably UK distributor Denys Fisher simply licensed toys from both companies and combined them into the same line for stronger brand recognition.

Finally, a note to the wise, learned from personal experience - don't store your Stretch toys in the same box as your (sharp) Lego pieces, unless you want the bricks to be permanently bonded together...