With Christmas in the air, our minds drift back to our dreams of toys under our trees in the 1980s. During this decade, the toy industry quickly moved to release some of the most defining toy lines. Some of these lines are still with us even today. Some, like He-Man, created such intense waves of […]
Wheeljack’s Lab – Vintage Toy Blog
Follow this blog for the new, the unusual, the rare and cool Generation 1 G1 Transformers toys. Reviews, news, toy resources, galleries, unboxing, opinions and personal reflections on vintage toys.
The Top Ten Pokémon from the First Four Generations
As Pokémon fans across the globe return to the Sinnoh region today, it is a perfect time to examine the greatest creatures from the games. Game Freak has created hundreds of monsters to fill the world of Pokémon with. To design these creatures, they turned to numerous sources, from traditional folklore to real-life animals. Then, […]
Retrospective on Pokémon: The Main Series Games
When it comes to the world of gaming, no franchise has become as huge of a multimedia success as Game Freak’s Pokémon. This franchise appeals to many types of fans, from the collector to the competitor. From the onset, the games enticed players to catch them all, referring to the in-game pokémon. Then, the anime […]
The Top Ten Planet of the Apes Toys from Mego
When Planet of the Apes hit theaters in 1968, the reveal that Taylor landed on a post-apocalyptic Earth shocked the audience. Even before the final twist, they fell in love with the expressive performances from the various apes, especially Cornelius and Zira. Eclipsing all their performances, Charleston Heston stole the show with several memorable quotes. […]
The Top Ten Planet of the Apes Characters from the Original Movies
As Franklin J. Schaffner toiled to adapt Pierre Boulle’s novel into the hit Planet of the Apes film, he trusted writers Rod Sterling then Michael Wilson. As they began drafting the scripts for the film, Twentieth Century Fox insisted that only the core principles of the book remain in the script. Thus, they scrapped all […]
The Top Ten Terminator Toys from Kenner
Years after James Cameron enthralled audiences with the first Terminator film, Kenner Toys became the first company to create toys for the franchise. Back in 1984, few companies believed that movie toys could net them a profit, let alone toys based on R-Rated films. Moreover, even though Arnold Schwarzenegger had previously starred as Conan the […]
The Ten Most Expensive Takara Microman Toys
After years of producing 12” action figures, Takara decided to revolutionize the Japanese toy industry by introducing a micro-sized hero: Microman. The legacy of this toy line began years ago when Takara licensed G.I. Joe from the American manufacturer, Hasbro. These licensed toys became a perfect foundation for Takara to experiment with. Responding to the […]
Ten Most Expensive Remco Toys and Other Collectibles
Multiple toy companies created beloved toy lines that remained beloved by collectors for decades. One of these companies was Remco Industries, Inc., which was founded in 1949. While the company never stood at the peak of the toy industry, it produced dozens of toy lines that implemented the advancing technology of the time. This love […]
Ten Most Expensive Transformers Toys
Throughout the 70s and early 80s, American and Japanese toy companies pushed forward universes filled with robots. While most robots were vehicles for humans to ride in during this era, some were presented as sentient beings. However, a world of form-changing robots that both functioned as vehicles and battle machines was on the horizon. The […]
The Ten Most Expensive WWF Toys
Wrestling is one of the oldest sports, where contestants prove their might by pinning down their opponents. However, the sport soared to new heights of popularity in the 1980s, as the WWF set a new standard for ring matches. The WWF originated in 1953 as Capitol Wrestling Corporation and later took on the name World […]