Power of the Force

There are a few toylines that I consider my "main lines".  I'll buy any figure if it's cool enough, but of course there are some lines that I actively collect.  Masters of the Universe and G.I. Joe would be two lines that I regularly go back to.  But Star Wars, as a whole, would be the one line that I consider my MAIN line.  Star Wars is so huge for me, I didn't even bother coming up with a clever title!  Who needs a silly joke title when we're talking about Star Wars?  No one.  That's who.

I've been thinking about which way to go about covering Star Wars on the blog here, because it's massive.  I've decided to go through the line series by series, starting with the vintage stuff and working up to modern times.  Obviously I won't be covering every figure, but I'll try to show off enough from each series to really show how the line has changed over the years.

The vintage series was called "Power of the Force", and it went from 1978 (before I was even born!) to 1985 (after I was even born!).  One thing I've always loved about Kenner's (and now Hasbro's) Star Wars toys is that they represent everyone.  Core characters to background extras all receive figures (eventually), which is great because a lot of my favorite figures from the line are obscure background characters.

DARTH VADER

Life, uh, Finds a Way

The problem with these multi-post spotlights is that once you start, you don't want to cover anything else until the spotlight is done.  But once you've done one or two of the posts, you want to talk about other stuff.  Such is the ADD world of toy collecting.  Any way, I love Jurassic Park!  I love Jurassic Park toys!  Let's go!

Hold on to Your Butts!

I've already said how Jurassic Park is one of my all-time favorite movies and one of my favorite toy lines.  So let's just get right back to the figures!

This nice looking young man is Dr. Snare, one of the "Evil Raiders".  The Evil Raiders are dino poachers and the enemies of the Dino Trackers (and the other heroes from the movies).  There were only 3 of them planned, as far as I know, and only two were released.  A cyborg named "Scrap Davis" was shown on the card back, but sadly never came out.  Scrap Davis was the weirdest-looking one, and    would have definitely been my favorite.  Anyway, in keeping with the "everyman" toys aspect that I love so much about these figures, Dr. Snare could just as easily be at home in some post-apocalyptic wasteland story as a villain from Jurassic Park.  Actually, he'd fit in well with Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.    Both of the Evil Raiders came with removable pieces of clothing that would reveal "dino-damage" battle scarring.

Welcome To Jurassic Park

One of my favorite movies of all time is Jurassic Park, and with it being back in theaters (in 3D no less!) I decided to dig through the boxes in my toy room and show off my JP collection.  Some of the figures are pretty worn in, but they've been well used!  Not only is JP one of my favorite movies, it's one of my all time favorite toy lines.

I've also done something a little different with the pics this time that I may or may not do again, depending on how these go over:  Speech balloons.  I've wanted to try them for a while, but the paint program on my MAC is pretty sad, so these took a lot of time and effort.  There's not a TON of voice balloons, because that would have taken forever.  Any way, let's dig in!

The Savage Mondo Blitzers Spotlights

Top cap off my spotlights of the Savage Mondo Blitzers line, I wanted to list them all (from beginning-to-end) in one post so they're easier for everyone to find down the road.

Concrete Breakfast Gang

The Butt Kickers

The Chunk Blowers

Load 'Em Up And Watch 'Em Fly! (Crazy Eights Part 2)

Man, I've gotten behind with these!  The first half of my Savage Mondo Blitzers Crazy Eights spotlight was done back in January, and I'm just getting to part 2 here in March.  There are other toy lines I want to talk about, and I've been waiting to finish the Mondo Blitzers to get to them.  There's newer stuff that I like that harkens back to my love of Mondo Blitzers, and I can't get to them until the Mondo Blitzers are done.  So...

CRAZY EIGHTS

The Crazy Eights seem to have two themes going on in their team.  There's the brutes (General Mayhem, Jack Hammer, Destruction Worker, and Fist Fight) who seem to be your standard manly-man sluggers, and the suburbans (Lawn Disorder, Shishke Bob, Armed & Dangerous, and Chow Hound) who could have easily crawled out of any sewer in any typical neighbourhood.  I don't think that was deliberate when Kenner was planning the teams, it's just something I noticed.

Masters Of Mayhem (Crazy Eights Part 1)

The fiercest Savage Mondo Blitzers of them all...  Crazy Eights with Lightning Launcher.  Eight all new characters who are ready for battle and can only be found in the Crazy Eights set.  These masters of mayhem fly out of the Lightning Launcher to strike hard and fast in the battle to be the baddest Blitzer.  Load 'em up and watch 'em fly!

- From the Savage Mondo Blitzers Crazy Eights box back

This is the final wide released set of the Savage Mondo Blitzers line, and there's twice as much mayhem to go around!

CRAZY EIGHTS

The Crazy Eights were originally going to be called "The Attack Pack" (according to the card backs of the regular sets), but the name changed by the time the set actually came out.  As far as I can tell, Mattel's "Attack Pack" line was still a year or two away, so I have no idea why the change happened and honestly I don't know which name I prefer more.  The Attack Pack line is also pretty awesome (and might me something I need to look into more), so they can have the name.

I never really got around to finding a place for these guys in my Savage Mondo Blitzers stories, so I'll probably start making some up on the fly here.

JACK HAMMER

Jack brings a "rocky" conclusion to all Blitzer Brawls.

Jack Hammer was the very last of the regularly released Mondo Blitzers that I found, and for a while he was on my All Time Top 10 Most Wanted Figures list.  I originally got my Crazy Eights set loose on eBay, but the set was missing Jack Hammer and the Lightning Launcher.  Later on I found a complete boxed set and bought it just for this guy.  That fact alone is probably why he's one of my favorites in the series, although he's a pretty cool looking figure as well.  

I'm having a hard time coming up with a backstory for the Crazy Eights.  I can't picture all of them as heroes, but I don't see them as flat-out villains either.  Maybe they're just the champions of what ever crazy game it is that the Savage Mondo Blitzers play.  And due to the way Jack Hammer came into my collection, he'll be my champion of champions.  You can't call yourself THE Savage Mondo Blitzer until you've beaten Jack Hammer.  The nice thing about the Crazy Eights set is that the box back has some little bios under each Blitzer's name, which gives you a little extra to work with if you want to flesh them out.  I want to flesh them out!  Jack Hammer looks like he's been chiseled out of rock, but I like to think of him more as a being of living cement, who can take on the properties of both solid and liquid cement at will.  Aside from using his trusty jack hammer, he can also pound you with his rock-hard concrete fists, absorb most damage in his liquid form, and immobilize you in your tracks.  This guy's THE champion for a reason!

GENERAL MAYHEM

He's in charge and won't let anyone forget it.

I can't call a post "Masters Of Mayhem" without having a guy named General Mayhem in it!  This guy packs some serious firepower, but exactly what is it that he's in charge of?  Maybe after the other Blitzers came to Earth to use it as their battlefield, General Mayhem stepped in and convinced them to hold a tournament to see who the baddest Blitzer is (instead of just waging all-out chaos).  General Mayhem makes the rules, and everyone else plays by them.  Luckily for him he can lay down the law when he needs to, which is why he's on the Crazy Eights team of champions.

DESTRUCTION WORKER
His favorite saying is "I-Beam looking for you".

Apparently construction workers make natural champions, since there's two of them on this team.  While Destruction Worker might not have all of Jack Hammer's radical powers, he can swing a wicked steel beam like nobody's business.  He might not be the brightest member of the Crazy Eights, but sometimes all you need to win is the right amount of girderstruction to give you the edge over your opponents!  Destruction Worker has climbed the Mondo Blitzers ladder all the way to the top, and now he's one of the humans to beat if you want to call yourself the baddest Blitzer of them all.

CHOW HOUND
He gets what he wants because no one can refuse his rabie face.

I'm not really sure what a "rabie face" is, but I know this bad dog has one.  I'm also betting that there's more going on behind those mutant canine eyes that it seems.  What ever caused Chow Hound's head to grow to the size it is (I'm guessing it's good ol' toxic ooze, look at that green drool!) it probably increased the size of his brain as well.  I don't see him suddenly being able to talk, but he can strategize and out-think most of his opponents (who underestimate him as a mindless beast).  Chow Hound is constantly learning new tricks, and he's barking up the right tree as one of the eight Savage Mondo Blitzer champions!

Lets stick with showcasing four Blitzers at a time and break the Crazy Eights into two parts.  In the second half of the spotlight we'll cover the rest of the team and see what else sets this group apart from the others.  Here's a hint:  They have an accessory.

Interestingly, G.I. Joe has a General Mayhem as well.  But he's taller.

Stop...Wait...Watch Out...

They're here, they're alive, and they're the nastiest group of characters you've ever met.  These wheeled psychos are the wildest group of whatevers you'll ever meet.  There's more than you'll ever know, but try to meet them all, 'cause they're the latest rage.....
SAVAGE MONDO BLITZERS!

 - from the Savage Mondo Blitzers card back

"These wheeled psychos are the wildest group of whatevers".  I love that!  That pretty much sums this line up.  A mixed and matched bunch of freaks that'll appeal to you whether you love weird figures, toy cars, whatever (well, weird toy cars - regular toy cars are boring).  

DAMAGED AND DEADLY GANG

Here we go!  This is the last (regularly released) Savage Mondo Blitzers 4-pack to be covered!  This motley crew of crazies is one of the more interesting sets in the series, and despite their extra unusual looks, I've always seen them as good guys.

HEAD ALERT

Head Alert is one of my favorite figures in the series.  He's just a giant two-armed head on a giant foot. With pistols.  And I don't know why, but I've always pictured him with a gruff "police chief" type of personality.  I mean, it doesn't make sense; what with the orange mohawk, the studded bracelet, the wicked scar...  I just can't get the whole police chief thing out of my head.  The idea popped in there, and I guess it's sticking.  In my old Mondo Blitzers stories there was one big team of good guys versus one big team of bad guys, and Head Alert was the leader of the good guys (they all reported to him like he was their chief).  I've pretty much put that idea aside, but his police chief mentality is still there.  Aside from that, I can't decide where I'd have Head Alert come from.  Is he a grotesquely mutated human?  I suppose he could be, but I think it's more fun to imagine a whole race of these head things out there somewhere.  So I guess for me, he's an alien.

MR. MUTATOR HEAD

Mr. Mutator Head is clearly a superhero, which helps push this whole team into good guy territory for me.  Now every superhero needs a superpower (well, except Batman... and the Punisher... okay, MOST superheroes), but what would his be?  I bet he can fly.  Lasers from the eyes?  Why not?  Maybe he's a shapeshifter.  His name is Mr. Mutator Head, maybe only his head can shapeshift.  That would be weird for Marvel or DC, but not the Savage Mondo Blitzers.  He thwarts evil, protects the innocent, and saves the day, all with nothing but his shapeshifting head and damaged (but deadly) teammates!

CHOP CHOP

If there's a dud figure in this set, it's Chop Chop.  He's not overly boring per se.  I mean, he's a samurai-looking dude and those were big back in the early 90's.  Hell, samurai are still cool today.  He's got a sword, that's not bad.  He's not as weird as anyone else on his team, but this team sets the weirdness bar high.  I think it might just be that he looks so pained doing whatever it is that he's doing.  Maybe he's just getting old and swinging the ol' sword isn't as easy as it used to be.  I mean, his eyes aren't even open!  I guess he could be a blind swordsman, those are always interesting.  And he doesn't have to like what he does.  When mutants, aliens, and robots use your planet as a battleground, what do you do?  You pick up your sword and defend yourself.  And then you sit down and rest.  "Kids these days!".

BLOOD HOCKEY

And then there's Blood Hockey!  If anyone was holding the team back from pure "good guy-ness", it's this guy.  I suppose he can fight on the side of good, but he's messy about it.  Just look at that jagged, bloody hockey stick!  Maybe he's like an axe murderer on the battlefield, but when the battle is done he likes to relax with a good book and a nice cup of cocoa (with marshmallows off course, he likes the way they dissolve in his mouth).  He probably uses those little reading glasses too.  But when duty calls, it's awn!

On a side note, each 4-pack comes with these little plastic trays to display the figures while they're on the card.  I kept those, and use them to store my Mondo Blitzers.  Now you know!

Well, only one team left!  Though this next one might be a two-parter...

Want To Know The Best Way To Avoid Wiping Out While Surfing?

Go surfing in the sewers!  You'll stick to that surfboard like glue on a booger.  Trust me.  I KNOW.

Any way, Christmas and New Years are in the bag again, so there's no excuses to keep me from pluggin' away at the Savage Mondo Blitzers spotlights.  Who will be starting off a new year of toy bloggery?  These guys:

THE SEWER SURFERS

As far as their weirdness-factor goes, these guys fall right smack-dab in the middle.  I think I've always seen them as bad guys (two of them even have "Bad" in their names), but they lack the edge to make them the main villains in my Mondo Blitzers stories.  Instead, they're thugs or henchmen, not unlike the Dudes of Disaster.  Maybe one or two of them could climb the ranks a little bit, but that's it.

Duuuuuuude

Time to get back to business!  After a short break between Savage Mondo Blitzers spotlights, it's time to get cracking with these babies again.

THE DUDES OF DISASTER

For some reason this team always seemed a little more random than the others to me.  I'm not sure why that is.  The Chunk Blowers have a baby, a dinosaur, a rock star, and a wrestler with big hands.  The Scars and Spikes Gang has a gorilla, a robot, an eyeball-headed freak, and a baseball player.  Randomness is kinda the name of the game here, so I don't know what sets these guys apart for me.  I mean, a soldier, a cyborg, some conjoined twins, and a... critter?... don't seem nearly as mismatched as some of the others.  Maybe like everything else with this line, it's just the feeling they give me.  They just feel more random.

Let's Crunch Some Skulls!

In my last Savage Mondo Blitzers post (The Mondo Of The Mondo), I said that only the Scars and Spikes Gang and the Dudes of Disaster got to have two characters represented in the card art.  Well, that's true, but The Skull Crunchers actually have three members in the card art.  That's only one character short of the whole team.  And it makes sense (as far as my storyline for Mondo Blitzers is concerned), because they're my main villains.

THE SKULL CRUNCHERS

The Mondo Of The Mondo

It's Mondo time again!

Back in my Butt Kickers post I talked about how my brother and I got our first Savage Mondo Blitzers toys in a goodie bag from our other brothers birthday party.  He got Secret Weapon from the Butt Kickers and Lug Nut from the Scars and Spikes Gang.  My original two were also from Scars and Spikes:  Kiss My Bat and Aping Wound.  Now no matter which figures I like most in terms of looks, this team will always be THE Savage Mondo Blitzers as far as I'm concerned.  But the best looking figure's here too.

SCARS AND SPIKES GANG

It should be obvious by now that one of the main themes in my Mondo Blitzers spotlights is to give a backstory to a line that doesn't have one.  Of course everyone's entitled to their own, but in my story I picture the mutant and alien freaks of the Mondo Blitzers universe using Earth as their battleground.  I actually tried to write a Mondo Blitzers story a few years ago.  Back then I was making the Scars and Spikes Gang my heroes, just because they're the original cool.  My storyline now has the Concrete Breakfast Gang as the heroes, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let these guys fall by the wayside.  Maybe they can join up with the CBG early in the story.  There's room for eight heroes!

These Chunks Were Made For Blowing

Wait...  What?...

I think I'm going to run out of funny titles for these posts before I run out of stuff to stay about Savage Mondo Blitzers.

For example:

THE CHUNK BLOWERS

In my last post, I talked about how I got my first Mondo Blitzers as a kid.  Well, would you believe that there was a time not long before I got my first Mondo Blitzers where I ACTUALLY TRIED TO TALK MY MOM OUT OF BUYING SAVAGE MONDO BLITZERS FOR US!?  Apparently as I kid I didn't deem them appropriate for kids.  I pointed out that there were characters named Loaded Diaper, Barf Bucket, Bad Fart, Snot Shot, etc.  How milquetoast is that!?  Somehow my mom saw through my temporary insanity and got us some Mondo Blitzers anyway, and I've loved them ever since.

These Locos Kick Your Butt...

I saw Short Circuit a few times as a kid, and that's still one of the only references I can remember.

Moving on...

THE BUTT KICKERS

In my last post covering the Concrete Breakfast Gang, I talked about how there was no real story to tie the Savage Mondo Blitzers line together.  You just have to make up your own, which is fine with me.  I also mentioned how some teams just felt like good guys to me, while others just felt like bad guys.  The Butt Kickers feel like bad guys.  Snot Shot and Gun Runner don't really have that "hero look" (although Snot Shot does have a certain Toxic Crusaders thing going on).  Cleat Meat is the only one that doesn't scream villain to me, but just like Barf Bucket is a good guy because the rest of his team is, I guess Cleat Meat is a villain because he's one of the Butt Kickers.

Concrete For Breakfast? Mondo!

Ah, the early 90's!  Never was there a better time to be a scummy, slime-covered mutant (or a fan of similarly gross toys).  Back then, if it was weird, wild and neon, I wanted it.

Some things never change.

The Savage Mondo Blitzers are awesome.  If I had to choose, Mondo Blitzers would be on my list of top 10 all-time favorite toys.  They're the weird toys that got me into weird toys.  The Ninja Turtles had their freaks, but there's just something about the Mondo Blitzers.  These are like the mutant hybrid of TMNT and Hot Wheels.  They just have this attitude.  With names like Barf Bucket, Loaded Diaper, Bad Fart, etc., these are rude dudes.  And there's a TON of 'em!  In fact, there's so many that I'm going to cover the line in a series of posts, just so I can get around to everybody.  I'll be doing them a team at a time, so every character gets his moment in the spotlight.

Might as well start off with some breakfast.  It IS the most important meal of the day, after all.