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.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Retrospective

The English folklore character, Robin Hood, has appeared in stories, movies, and theatre for hundreds of years. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, one of the many stories featuring this sneaky heroic outlaw, came out in 1991. Along with the movie released, a video game, and toys also came out for the Prince of Thieves franchise. […]

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Captain Power Retrospective

Travel through time with us to the 22nd century through this Retrospective of Captain Power. The franchise first began in 1987 through the television series, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. This series starred Tim Dunigan, Peter Macneill, and Sven-Ole Thorsen and featured 22 episodes of 20 minutes each. The story begins in […]

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Computer Warriors Retrospective

In 1989, Mattel toy company released a transforming toy line representing the storyline of the Computer Warriors. These toys released from 1989 to 1990 when an animated pilot episode of the characters also released. The pilot episode unfortunately never picked up but later came out as just one 22 minute film on VHS. These toys […]

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Top 10 Most Expensive Computer Warriors Toys

With the trend of transforming toys in the 1980s and 90s, Mattel toy company released these Computer Warrior action figures and playsets. From 1989 to 1990, Mattel’s transforming virus and anti-virus toys hit store shelves. These toys preceded an animated pilot episode titled Computer Warriors: The Adventure Begins. Since the toys only released for 2 […]

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Top 10 Most Expensive Captain Planet Toys

In 1990 the animated action environmentalist series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, came out. This series lasted for six seasons and told the story of the Planeteers group and the superhero, Captain Planet. The story began with character Gaia sending out five powerful rings to chosen kids around the world, each representing an earthly element. […]

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Captain Planet Retrospective

The Captain Planet and the Planeteers animated action series released in 1990. The series broadcasted on TBS from September 15, 1990 to December 5, 1992. This series’ sequel, The New Adventures of Captain Planet, began airing the next year from September 11, 1993 to May 11, 1996. Since this long running popular series, toys, comics, […]

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Street Sharks Retrospective

This 90s animated series about four half-human half-shark teenagers aired from 1994 to 1997. Street Sharks tells the story of these four boys whose father was kidnapped and turned into a monster by the evil scientist, Dr. Paradigm. Then, when the boys try to rescue him, Dr. Paradigm turns them into anthropomorphic sharks. The story […]

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Lord of the Rings Retrospective

Among many fantasy films, The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the series that automatically comes to mind for people all around the world. This iconic story first began as a novel written by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in July 1954. The book series from the mid 1900s proved to be one of the best-selling book […]

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Dukes of Hazzard Retrospective

In January 1979, the popular American action comedy series, The Dukes of Hazzard, first aired. This series, consistently among top-rated television shows from the late 70s to the mid 80s, drew in millions of fans. This series quickly became a big hit which spiked the launch of toys (1980), video games (1984-2004), movies (1997-2007), and […]

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