The Plastic Eyeball Opens!

IT’S BLOG TIME!

Hello everybody, and welcome to The Plastic Eyeball.  I’ve been wanting for a while now to have a place where I can share my thoughts on all things toy related.  My goal is to keep this shindig going for as long as I have have things to say about toys - which should be endless.  I plan on going over all the vast and various toys that interest me in one way or another, and hopefully cover some lesser-known lines that you can discover for the first time. 

Why am I calling my blog The Plastic Eyeball?  Honestly, I just tried to come up with something unique and it popped into my head.   I could say that I chose it because I love figures with eyeballs for heads (more on that below), or I have an eye for all things toy (and most toys are plastic), and that would be true.  But in the end I thought it was weird and unique and just went with it.

Now a little bit about me:  First, my name is Zach.  Hi.  How are ya?  I’ve been collecting toys for as long as I can remember.  Some might call it an obsession, but I see it as more of a passion.  A passion that I’m absolutely obsessed with.  When I was younger there was nothing better than just spending my day in my room (or the basement, backyard, friends’ houses, camping trips, etc) creating all sorts of stories and adventures with my toys, and I firmly believe that I am who I am today because I let my imagination flow so freely as a child.  It’s also why my imagination flows so freely to this day and why I see the world the way I do.

Plus toys are just fun.

There’s many a toy blog, forum, website, etc. out there that pick apart what’s wrong with this toy and why that line is going to die and which company hates toy collectors for such and such a reason, and this here blog is going to stay away from that.  Not that I have anything against listing the pros and cons for whatever you happen to be into, but there’s enough unhappy sounding toy collectors out there that it makes you question why they still do it - and it keeps me away from these various sites aside from skimming for new pictures, or the odd input here or there.  I want to focus on the stuff I like, and why I buy what I buy, and how this stuff appeals to me personally.  I may get into stuff I don’t like from time to time, but like I said, there’s lots of that out there already.

Any way...

Over the years my tastes in certain types of toys have changed and evolved, but there are a few things that I have always been a sucker for, and probably always will be.

• Eyeballs for heads.  I don’t even know where this came from.  I pride myself in being able to remember the vast majority of my childhood, but for as long as I can remember I’ve just loved guys with eyeballs for heads.  There’s no reason.  The weirdness of it just appeals to me.  Figures with other body parts for heads are cool too, but there’s just something about an eyeball that really does it for me.  Oculus Orbus, AFC Blinky, Optikk, I love em all.  There’s a few toy lines out there with eyeball heads in them, and the eyeball heads are always some of my faves.

• Anthropomorphized food.  Again, I don’t know why this appeals to me, but it does.  I remember loving the California Raisins as a kid, and other various foodie characters from cartoons and commercials.  Food Fighters, The Trash Pack, Smax...  If it’s a food guy, I love it.  Anthropomorphized household items also hold sway over me.

• Knights armor.  Not knights themselves, but specifically the armor that they wear.  I think I prefer it even more when there’s no knight in there.  And this time I know exactly where this comes from.  Remember Bedknobs and Broomsticks?  Remember the scene where Angela Lansbury magically brings that army of knights armor to life to battle Nazis?  That’s where it comes from.  Seeing them getting riddled with machine gun fire and simply taking their heads or feet off to pour the bullets out just made the entire movie worth watching.  There aren’t a whole lot of figures based on empty suits of armor, but they still appeal to me when you can’t see the knight’s face.  Marvel’s Destroyer gets a spot on the list as well. 

• Sharks.  Bonus points if it’s a shark person.  Extra special bonus points if it’s a hammerhead.  All sharks are cool, but there’s just something about a hammerhead.  Maybe it’s the extra weirdness factor, but I love ‘em.  Street Sharks, various monster sharks from all those pirate lines out there, even figures that are just called “Hammerhead” without being shark related appeal to me because of my love for hammerhead sharks.  Momaw Nadon and Roron Corobb from Star Wars, Hammerhead from M.U.S.C.L.E., Slammerhead from Landard’s Corps! line and Jammerhead from TMNT...  These guys aren’t sharks, but they get a free-ride with my shark love.

• Skeletons.  This has to come from Skeletor.  Skeletor is easily my favorite villain of all time.  Even if he’s more skull than full-on skeleton, I’m sure he started this.  Scare Glow only added to my skeleton love, and now any cool toy line worth the plastic it’s made of should have a skeleton in it.  Now if you combine my love for knights armor with my love for skeletons, stick a skeleton in some armor...  Well you’ve got yourself a deal right there.  Better yet, put that skeleton in armor, give him an eyeball head, have him ride into battle on a hammerhead shark while carrying a pizza shield...  I’m in.

Those are the big 5, but any kind of nice weirdo-looking character is right up my alley as well.

To wrap this intro up, I hope to make this blog worth coming back to again and again, and please feel free to comment and share your own stories, opinions, etc.  Toys are fun.  I want you to have as much fun reading about them as I do writing about them.  

Now let’s get on to the good stuff!