Retro Toys

 Hey everyone! Happy Friday! I thought I'd do something a little different today and talk about toys. In the last decade or so I've noticed that alot of toy companies are re-releasing old figures or re-molded figures in packaging that resembles the packaging the original figures came out in. I'm sticking to figures only, not playsets, ships, or role playing accessories. I'm also mostly just going to be talking about the figures from toylines that I played with when I was a kid as that's what I know. This isn't going to be a review, just a compare and contrast excercise, so let's get into it.

I'm gonna be starting with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. So here's a picture of the original Red Ranger figure that Bandai America released in 1993. It's not my Red Ranger figure, it's just an image I got off a Power Rangers fansite that has a complete toy guide. I just wanted to have some visual aids when it comes to packaging. So there's the figure in it's original packaging. The size of the figures in this line was 8" and they were about the same size as the Deluxe Megazord and Deluxe Dragonzord. All they came with was the Blade Blaster, no Power Weapons, no Power Coins, just the Blade Blaster. Though the Green Ranger also came with the Dragon Shield, which you can put on the other 8" Ranger figures, and the White Ranger came with his sword, Saba, and his Tiger Shield, which can also be put on the other Rangers in the line. Now let's take a look at the Legacy Collection releases.

Now I don't own the 2014 Legacy Collection Red Ranger release. However as you can see from the packaging above, the figure comes in a very similar packaging style to the original. The figures are also smaller as they're 5" in order to match up with the Power Rangers Super Megaforce toyline which was coming out at the same time. There's slight differences such as the MMPR logo matches the show's title card logo rather than the logo seen on the packaging for the original 1993 toyline. The figure itself comes with alot more. It's the Red Ranger wearing the Dragon Shield so he comes with the Dragon Dagger, along with his own Power Sword. I started with MMPR as an example of packaging being based on the original, but basically being new with a brand new figure inside.

Up next is Star Trek: The Next Generation. Now I had a ton of these figures growing up. In fact I was missing only two figures from the first wave that came out in 1992, and that was the Ferengi and the Borg. I had everyone else. In fact, I have the entire main cast of TNG in my collection today.

 Last year Playmates Toys, who originally released the Star Trek toys in the '90s, began releasing a mix of figures from Star Trek: Discovery along with new figures from TNG and TOS. While the original TNG figures were 4 1/2" the new ones are half an inch taller at 5". I have the new Picard figure and the accessories, except for the computer terminal that all the figures came with back in the day, are the exact same as they were in 1992. Aside from the Choking Hazard warning and the TNG 35 Years logo on the opposite side, the packaging is exactly the same in design, though smaller. This is an example of the packaging being reproduced almost exactly, and accessories that are basically the same, but with the figure being different. 

Now we're going to be getting into two examples of figures that are basically indistinguishable from their original versions. You'll see what I mean in a minute, but one of the things that actually convinced me to even do this blog post is that I've been seeing companies putting out toys that are either packaged in classic packaging, but are brand new toys, or are straight up re-releases of old figures in packaging that resembled the original. And I thought that was interesting as it's really only something I've seen happen in the last ten years. In the case of Power Rangers, Bandai would re-release the original MMPR figures but in brand new packaging and under a brand new label like the Power Playback line that came out from 1999 to 2000. Now let's see if you can spot any differences between the figures in the next two examples.

Here's the original Luke Skywalker figure from the 1977/1978 Star Wars toyline from Kenner. I never owned this particular figure, but I did own a lot of the figures from all three Original Trilogy Kenner toylines when I was a kid thanks to a nurse I had at the hospital whose son was getting rid of all of his Star Wars toys, and they were given to me. 

Now, here's the 2019 release of the figure. aside from it being slightly taller, 3.75" instead of the 3 3/4", and the Retro Collection logo on the front of the package, if you put the two figures side by side, there would be no way to tell the difference between the two. Except maybe the hair on the two figures. Now, let's take a look at the last example that I have for you for today.

 Here's the classic Leonardo figure from the original 1988 Playmates Toys Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toyline, first wave. While I had a bunch of Ninja Turtles figures when I was a kid, I never had the original four figures of the Turtles. I had a couple of Donatellos, one where you open the shell for storage, and one that you wound up and it would swim in a pool or bathtub, I had the talking Michaelangelo, and a Leonardo figure, but I couldn't tell you if it was the original 1988 figure or not because it was missing all of its accessories including his belt. I never had a Raphael figure though or the four 1988 figures with 100% certainty.

Now, here's the recent re-release from Playmates, complete with retro packaging. All of Leo's accessories are the exact same as they were in 1988, the figures are the same size, and probably the only difference is the design of the Playmates Toys logo on each package. I got this figure just before Christmas and looking at it sitting here on my desk, without the packaging, and I couldn't tell you which version I was looking at. Not without turning the figure around and looking at the copyright info on the shell or on his right foot. Which is pretty interesting given that the other retro figures I've talked about today have all had some noticeable differences to them, even if the packaging was exactly the same.

I just find it fascinating that toy companies have been doing this for about a decade now. I'm sure other franchises that has a toyline has had this, but these are the ones that I have at least one figure from and are my favourite franchises. Nostalgia permeates every aspect of pop culture these days. Even comic book publishers are re-publishing the oldest, and most expensive issues in their back catalogue with their Facsimile Editions. And it isn't just DC and Marvel doing this now either. IDW Publishing and Dynamite Entertainment have started doing it too with the franchises they have the comic book licensing for. And that's in addition to collecting those same issues in trade paperback and hardcover editions. But I think that'll be a topic for another post.

That's going to be it for me for this week. I'll be back soon with my review of season 2 of Stargirl, as well as many other blog posts. So until then have a great weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.