Blackrock's Toybox

Missing Link Arcee (2025)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000

As I said last month, most of the new characters introduced in The Transformers: The Movie had corresponding toys that came out in 1986 (even if, as I suggested earlier, these will likely not be the versions of these characters I'll be featuring this year on the blog). Such was not the case for Arcee, although for rather different reasons than was the case for the Quintesson Trooper. Arcee was not the first female Autobot to appear in the franchise (there were several introduced in a season two episode of the cartoon^*), but she was arguably the most important. Despite the character's prominence throughout the remainder of the era, the prevailing wisdom was that boys didn't want to buy toys of girl characters, and so fans would have to wait many years before official toys of Arcee were finally made available.Read more »

Quintesson Trooper (Buzzworthy Bumblebee Troop Builder Multipack, 2023)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000

While The Transformers: The Movie did the expected job of featuring characters based on toys that either had already come out, or were scheduled to come out in 1986, it also featured a number characters for which no toy was ever expected. However, given enough time, Hasbro has demonstrated that almost any character featured in Transformers fiction has a decent chance of eventually becoming a mass-released official toy.^* So it is with this "Quintesson Trooper," which appeared as a bailiff in the courtroom scene as a very minor character.Read more »

"Classics" Rodimus (2006)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000

As most Transformers fans already know, 2026 is the 40th Anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie. Having done other celebrations of the movie in the past, I've decided to do something different this year. Most of the time I feature a Transformers toy in 2026, I intend it to be a representation of one of the characters introduced in that movie. It probably won't be the toy that actually came out in 1986 (I've featured many of those already), but it will nonetheless be one of the characters first featured in the movie. To start things off, I'm looking at the "Classics" version of Hot Rod.

The Impossible Cat - A Parody

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0000

As longtime readers know, my wife and I have been cat owners for over twenty years now. Sadly, cats have a much more limited lifespan than humans, and thus we've had to say goodbye to two of these cats (Turtle and Kona), but have recently welcomed Earl Grey (pictured) into our home. The following parody (to the tune of "The Impossible Dream" from Man of LaMancha) was written before Earl Grey came to us, and I have to say it doesn't seem to apply to him especially well. Even so, I hope you enjoy it! Maybe someday I'll get around to a proper recording....

That Time the Star Trek: The Next Generation Comic Book Did a Christmas Issue (1987)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

In 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation hit television screens, and although it definitely made waves as a successor to the original series, it wouldn’t be fair to say that it was instantly popular. In fact, it’s pretty much universally agreed that the show took a while to properly hit its stride. The original comic book based on the franchise, a six-issue mini-series published by DC Comics, showed similar growing pains. One symptom of the oddities thus demonstrated is the fact that they did a Christmas story with the second ever issue. Since it’s the season, let’s have a look at this bizarre corner of the Star Trek universe.

In Honor of Dick Van Dyke's 100th Birthday - Faith, Hope and Hilarity (1970)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

As most anyone with an eye on pop culture is probably aware, television and movie legend Dick Van Dyke will reach the age of 100 on December 13th. Although there will be other sites far better prepared to offer Van Dyke the tributes he's owed for reaching this milestone, I couldn't let this occasion pass by without a comment of my own, which I hope offers a perspective unlikely to be often repeated elsewhere....Read more »

20th Anniversary of Hoodwinked! (Limited Release date: December 16, 2005)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Almost twenty years ago, while my wife and I were on vacation, we found ourselves flipping through the channels on our room's television, and we stumbled upon a movie that reminded us of Shrek (already a few years old at this time), but instead of lampooning fairy tales in general, this movie focused on "Little Red Riding Hood," specifically. Upon our arrival back at home, we looked up the movie to secure the DVD, thus allowing us to finally watch Hoodwinked^* in its entirety.Read more »

Authentics Elita-1 (2025)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

A generation or so ago, most toys came from one of five major retailers: Walmart, Target, Toys"Я"Us, Kmart, and KB Toys. Any toys sold outside of those "Big Five" were thus often referred to as "market six" toys. While many of the toys sold in these retailers were the same toys found elsewhere (sometimes well after those toys had disappeared from the "Big Five"), Hasbro would even create the occasional toy specifically intended for these more obscure venues. Fast-forward to today, and the reality is that three of those "Big Five" no longer even exist (well, as we established a few weeks ago, there is a Toys"Я"Us operating again, but it's really not the same company), and so the term "market six" became less and less accurate, and finally seems to have fallen out of use. Read more »

Batman #457 (1990) and 35 Years of Tim Drake as Robin

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0000

In the over 85-year history of Batman, there have been many partners who have taken on the identity of Robin. While the original, Dick Grayson (who was introduced only a year after Batman himself), will probably always be the most well-known (despite now having spent almost half of his existence with a different identity entirely, that of "Nightwing"), the third Robin, Tim Drake, may well be the next-most popular. Tim's tenure as Robin, itself, is now 35 years old,^* and it's time to recognize this achievement.

Happy Halloween with Casper - "The Friendly Ghost" (1945)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

If you're reading this on the day it drops, it's Halloween, but how to celebrate? Sadly, there are only so many appropriate Transformers to cover (that last one was, admittedly, a stretch), and I really want to focus on something fun rather than creepy.

It turns out that Casper, the Friendly Ghost, is just about to celebrate his 80th birthday! Casper first appeared in a cartoon entitled (appropriately enough) The Friendly Ghost, which first appeared in theaters on November 16, 1945 (oddly, a couple of weeks after Halloween!). Also, conveniently, this short is in the Public Domain, so I can safely drop the whole thing right here and not worry about whether or not my usage qualifies under Fair Use doctrine:

Voiced by Walter Tetley (better known to many as the voice of Sherman from the Peabody's Improbable History cartoons that aired alongside Rocky and Bullwinkle), Casper was intended just to be a one-off, but proved so popular that he went on to star in dozens of further cartoons, and I don't think I'm exaggerating to say literally hundreds of comic book stories! Other cartoons often followed much the same plot as The Friendly Ghost. Casper is a lonely ghost, who struggles to make friends because nearly everyone he meets runs away in fear. Eventually, Casper finds another lonely soul, perhaps in danger from some persecutor from whom Casper is able to save them, and the cartoon ends with a new friendship forged. Why Casper always seems to be lonely again by the time the next cartoon begins is never addressed, and it's best not to think about it too hard. The later comic stories tended to give Casper a far more stable social life.

Whatever your Halloween plans, have a happy and safe one!

Jeffrey Prime (2016)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

7 years ago, we said good-bye to Toys "Я" Us. At that time, I picked up this toy, a Japanese-exclusive, one of the surprisingly-few examples of a Toys "Я" Us-branded Transformer item, as a memento of the chain. It has hung quietly on a hook on my computer desk ever since. I never really intended to keep it in its package. I seldom do, anyway. Toys are meant to be played with, as I often say. But this toy is more of a symbol, certainly. So, for 7 years, it just stayed on the hook....

...Until now.Read more »

The Wild Wild West Comic Mini-Series (1990)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Before there was Legend, there was The Wild Wild West, a melding of western and spy genres that aired on CBS from 1965 to 1969. Its popularity was so great that it not only spawned two "reunion" specials (one in 1979, and the other in 1980... and there might have been even more if one of the leads didn't unexpectedly pass away the next year) and a theatrical spin-off starring Will Smith in 1999 (which wasn't generally well-received, but was responsible for rescuing a damaged historical locomotive engine. I say more about that here), but also a couple of comic book series. There was a series published by Gold Key in the '60s, which I've never seen, and a more recent comic book mini-series published by a company called Millennium in 1990, which is what I'll be talking about here.

Thrilling 30 Sandstorm (2013)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

About mid-way into 2013, Hasbro started (perhaps prematurely?) to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Transformers franchise (which started well into 1984) with what they called the Thrilling 30. Toys were released as part of already-established Generations line, revisiting characters from all of the various aspects of the franchise to this point (not just "Generation One," although it's undeniable that those characters were given a bit more attention than other specific lines that came later, and which had been on toy shelves more recently).Read more »

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the JSA's "Next Generation" (All-Star Comics #58, cover date February, 1976)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

In previous entries referencing the Justice Society of America, I've discussed how the group, which originated in the few years before World War II, fell out of favor in the years immediately after the war, but had started to make return appearances a decade or so later, especially alongside the Justice League of America. These "Crisis" appearances became an annual tradition for many years. However, it wasn't until 1975 that the industry's first super-hero team made a comeback in a comic book devoted specifically to them. In fact, All-Star Comics, the book which originally featured the JSA, itself was brought out of cancellation, with the first "next generation" issue of All-Star Comics being given issue number 58, as that would have been the next issue of All-Star Comics in 1951 if DC hadn't decided to rename the whole book as "All-Star Western" (removing the JSA in favor of Western stories) with #58 at the time.

G1 Strafe (1987)... and a Few Namesakes

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 16:00:00 +0000

If you were to ask most Transformers fans, specifically ones who have followed the franchise during the 1980s and have continued to do so to this day, to name all of the G1 combiner teams, the odds are reasonably good that they can remember all of them (and even if they somehow forget the Pretender Monsters or some groups of toys that never came out in the US, they're all-but certain to identify all of the "Scramble City" teams, as well as Devastator and Predaking). That said, even those fans are likely to stumble if you ask them to name all of the combiner team members, especially those who came out after 1985. The reason for this is apparent enough. While the combined forms, themselves, likely were featured on the popular cartoon of the era, the members often were only name-checked once, if at all. Thus, an individual like Strafe, whose G1 package art is seen here to the left, is frequently forgotten....Read more »

Fraggle Rock Happy Meal Toys (1988)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Dance your cares away! Worries for another da-a-ay!

(Be honest, you just sang that, didn't you?)

Almost from the time the Fraggles first hit television screens in 1983, they were incredibly popular. The adorable puppets^*, infectious music, and whimsical stories became "must-see" viewing for many of my generation (perhaps despite being available only on HBO, then still only a cable service that subscribers had to pay to receive).

Celebrating National Video Games Day - Quarter Arcades Ms. Pac-Man (2020)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 16:00:00 +0000

I sometimes quip that anyone can call anything a "National Day" at any time, and it becomes so. While I definitely don't take these so-called "holidays" very seriously, they do at least provide excuses to feature relevant items here from time to time. Thus, when I learned that September 12th is "National Video Games Day" (note the plural, as at least one source suggests that the singular "National Video Game Day" is July 8th, just in case you needed another reason to recognize how silly this stuff is), and apparently has been since at least 1997, I decided that this was a good time to feature my favorite video game, Ms. Pac-Man (strangely, for the first time ever on this blog).Read more »

Legacy Jhiaxus (2022)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 16:00:00 +0000

The third time, as it happened, was indeed the charm.

The first official Jhiaxus toy, which I reviewed a dozen years ago, was a repaint of a Beast Machines figure, and looked nothing like the character created for the Transformers: Generation 2 comic book, either in form or coloration. But even though it was little more than a name slapped on a seemingly unrelated figure, the fact that the comic had already been ancient history for a decade at that point meant that few Transformers fans ever expected to have another opportunity to see the character in toy form, so we snatched it up.

Atari 2600 Pac-Man revisited (Pac-Man 8K homebrew and upcoming official 7800 releases)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:00:00 +0000

In the past few years, I've gotten more involved in retro video gaming than I've been in a long time. One of the main catalysts of this resurgence was the release of the Atari 2600+ in late 2023. For those unfamiliar with the plus systems, the 2600+ and its later cousin, the 7800+, are consoles designed to resemble their 1980's-era namesakes (they're slightly smaller in total size), and to play original cartridges on modern TVs using HDMI (original consoles have to be modified to play on modern TVs, having been designed in the era of CRTs). Since then, I have been buying up and playing quite a few old cartridges, and my collection now is probably larger than the one my family had back in the 1980s (some of which my brother, who lives in the house I grew up in now that my parents have moved elsewhere, still has).

Mock Game Show: Pointless

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Especially in the years since COVID-19 lockdowns, I've found myself gravitating to British game shows that are available to me despite living in the United States. One such show, Pointless, has been running for over a decade now, despite being all-but unknown here.

The premise is that, before the show, 100 people are surveyed with questions. Unlike Family Feud, they're not looking for opinions, but rather how many of those 100 respondents can give correct answers. The contestants on the show are then asked the same questions, and seek to respond with answers that the fewest survey respondents could get right. Points are awarded for each respondent who got it right. For example, if asked to name a capital city in Europe, you might answer "Paris" (the capital of France). In the case of this survey (conducted in the UK), 98 people in the survey said "Paris," meaning you'd score 98 points, which really isn't very helpful, since that's practically everyone. But if the contestant instead tried something more obscure like "Stockholm" (the capital of Sweden), the score would be a much more attractive 30 points, since only 30 people in the survey could come up with the more obscure answer. What you really want is an answer like "Sarajevo" (the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina), because that answer is both correct and one that no one in the survey group could come up with, rending it "Pointless," not only scoring zero points, but adding money to a jackpot that can be claimed by the winners.

But beware! If a contestant gives a wrong answer, they're hit with the full 100 points representing the entire surveyed group. Lowest scores win.

If you'd like to see the actual show, you can find an assortment of episodes at either YouTube (free) or BritBox (if you have a subscription). (I'm assuming a US audience. If you're lucky enough to live in the UK, you can get everything for free with iPlayer!)

When I was asked to help close out the college year with a game the faculty might play along with, I had to adapt the game play of Pointless a bit to accommodate an auditorium of potential players, but the basic rules are the same. You can watch the video below. The first several questions even come from books published for UK Pointless fans, while the last couple come from surveys we conducted at the college. I hope you enjoy the game!

Transformers: The Last Knight Cybertron (2017)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 16:00:00 +0000

While I'll never be a fan of Michael Bay's live-action interpretation of the Transformers franchise, I've had little trouble accepting that the popularity of those movies has meant that a lot of toys got released that would never have been done, otherwise. This toy is an excellent example. While it's true that the mold already existed (and has already been featured here), released back in 2006 as Primus, this 2017 repaint was created simply to meet the increased demand for toys that came out of the then-latest feature, The Last Knight. Specifically, this toy was released under a "Mission to Cybertron" banner as a Toys"R"Us exclusive.

The Memoirs of Nicodemus Legend: Skeletons in the Closet

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 16:00:00 +0000

"Skeletons in the Closet" was the twelfth and final episode of Legend, and first aired on August 8th, 1995. It was written by David Rich and directed by Steve Shaw. You can watch the episode via Amazon Prime Video or DVD.

Super Powers Collection Firestorm (1985)

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Kenner's "Super Powers Collection" line of action figures certainly weren't the first superhero action figures. Companies had been doing such toys for literally decades by the time the Super Powers figures started to come out. But, speaking only for myself, most of those older toys only vaguely resembled the characters they were intended to represent. The Super Powers toys looked like they popped right off of the comic book pages! Although I only had a passing recognition of the comic books themselves when the line first hit shelves in 1984 (I was more familiar with the Super Friends cartoon at the time, but did start collecting comics only a year later), this immediately drew my attention.

The Memoirs of Nicodemus Legend: Clueless in San Francisco

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000

"Clueless in San Francisco" was the eleventh episode of Legend, and first aired on July 25th, 1995. It was written by Carol Caldwell & Marianne Clarkson and directed by Charles Correll. You can watch the episode via Amazon Prime Video or DVD.

The Memoirs of Nicodemus Legend: Fall of a Legend

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Baker-Wright) — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000

"Fall of a Legend" was the tenth episode of Legend, and first aired on June 18th, 1995. The teleplay was written by Ron Friedman from a story by Bob Shane, and the episode was directed by Michael Vejar. You can watch the episode via Amazon Prime Video or DVD.Read more »