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.

Terrahawks Retrospective

Travel with us through time and space through this Retrospective of Terrahawks. This popular space franchise began in 1983 with the release of the television series. The Terrahawks series featured all characters as latex hand puppets. The style of puppetry used for this series, supermacromation, differs from the style used in maker Gerry Anderson’s earlier […]

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Zoids Retrospective

Jump into the world of Zoids with us in our Retrospective of Zoids. Short for Zoic Androids, these Zoid bio-mechanical creatures began an incredible, widespread franchise. The Zoids franchise began in 1982 when the Japanese company, Tomy (now Takara-Tomy), made multiple series of plastic model kits. These models resemble many different species such as reptiles, […]

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Zorro Retrospective

Join us in a Retrospective of Zorro. The franchise begins in 1919 when Johnston McCulley created this incredible superhero western character. Zorro first appeared in All-Story Weekly in August of 1919. This masked, swordsman vigilante in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California appears in many stories across practically every form of media for […]

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Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure Retrospective

Travel through time with us as we go through a Retrospective of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures. The rock & roll, time traveling franchise begins in 1989 and continues to present day. With years of adventures, characters Bill and Ted not only appear in films. The iconic duo also appears in an animated series, video […]

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James Bond Retrospective

In the year 1953, Ian Fleming created one of the most popular and epic characters ever, James Bond. The British secret agent spy character, typically known as 007, gained popularity through many movies, comics, toys, and more. The James Bond film series sparked the most popularity, with one of the highest-grossing film series of all […]

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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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BraveStarr Retrospective

Travel through time with us to the 24th century in this Retrospective of the BraveStarr franchise. The space western franchise, BraveStarr, released through many forms of media from the mid to late 1980s. The franchise includes toys, comics, books, a television series, movie, and video game. BraveStarr stands to be unique in genre, mixing both […]

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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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Biker Mice from Mars Retrospective

Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo are the stars from this superhero story of three motorcycle riding mice from Mars. This action-packed animated series, Biker Mice from Mars, first premiered in September 1993. The series showcases these mice as they tackle many endeavors from Mars to Earth and back to Mars. Although this first series only aired […]

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