Kings of the Wild Frontier!

Today we take a look at the Tim Mee Backwoods Battle Frontiersman Figures Set!

Little green army men too mainstream for you? Looking for more manly beard in your little plastic men? Then this set is for you: The Backwoods Battle set from Tim Mee includes 24 Frontiersman (or as we called them when I was a kid: Mountain Men.)

My elementary school mascot was a Mountain Man, and I would get 'Mountain Man of the Month' pretty much every month for my good grades, so these guys are a fond reminder of times gone by.

I especially like this guy, who is about to bludgeon some homesteaders with the butt of his rifle, because bullets don't grow on trees you know!

This Mountain Man is looking for a good woman. Or a knot hole of modest size. He's been alone for a looong time.

"Squeal like a pig!"

As you can see, the Frontiersmen are slightly larger than your average little green army men.

But they are in 1:1 scale to dinosaurs. Science!

I have to assume these guys originally came with horses or perhaps mules, because a few of them are bowlegged. Either that or they all have rickets. I suppose that too is scientifically accurate.

SCIENCE!

"I will both shoot AND stab you! No, you don't want to know what I'll do to you after that."

"Is that a b'ar? I kilt one of those when I was just three!"

This set really needs a few large bears or a moose or something. But they have their charms. If you're into plastic icons of lonely self sufficient men with dead animals on their heads (and who isn't?), I recommend you pick up a set.

But don't take my word for it:


*Toyriffic was sent this set for review from the manufacturer. You can get yours at Amazon.

Ringside Collectibles Casket Playset

When I first caught sight of Ringside Collectibles' Casket Playset I fell in love with the concept. Fans of professional wrestling are pretty used to seeing this level of melodrama on stage, especially when it comes to characters like The Undertaker, so it's a natural for the hugely popular wrestling action figure scene.

I don't collect wrestling action figures, but I knew the playset would come in handy with some of the in-scale action figures I do own; every superhero worth their salt has died at least twice!

So when Ringside Collectibles offered to send me this Casket Playset for review I nearly died (hahaha get it?) Ok, enough gallows humor - let's dig into this thing...

The casket playset is available in either black or silver. They come packaged on a blister card just like all your favorite action figures.

Each set includes an urn, a shovel, and a 'breakable' tombstone to beat your opponent over the head with!

I opened up the black casket, because I figured I'd probably be most likely to display it with a Batman action figure (now I'm wishing I had picked up that Vampire Batman action figure when I had the chance!) and when Batman dies you know his casket will be black.

The casket itself is pretty sturdy. The door is split just in case your action figure leaves behind a pretty corpse. If they didn't, feel free to slam that door down on their smushed up face!

The inside is padded in a soft purple (in the black casket) material. You don't want your action figures heading off into eternal slumber with a crick in their necks, do ya?

The Mattel Batman of Zur-En-Arrh action figure seemed appropriate for this photoshoot, since Batman took on this personality around the same time Dr. Hurt buried him alive. I just can't remember at this moment if it was before or after he was buried alive. I need to go re-read that storyline.

"Batman is NOT dead!"

As you can see, the tombstone 'breaks' into three parts. It holds together nicely when assmebled too. The casket opens and closes nicely, and both doors hold together when opened. Even with his plastic cape, Batman was able to fit inside fine even with the doors closed.

My intern thought this guy looked a little dead, so...

"In you go, Mr. Ugly!" SLAM!

Yup, even MOTUC figures fit well in the casket playset. The casket is wide enough for their broad shoulders. In fact, on the Ringside Collectibles website they state "Large enough to fit Andre the Giant or Great Khali" - now I may not be up on my modern wrestlers but EVERYONE knows who Adre the Giant is! So from your smaller wresting figures like Rey Mysterio to your larger ones like Andre, Undertaker and Khali, you can expect them to fit just fine when they finally go to that great wrestling ring in the sky.

The Casket Playset is a lot of fun. It probably makes more sense to use it with relevant wrestling action figures, but it works just fine with most 6-ish inch action figures. If it doesn't become a part of any permanent display around here it will definitely be making an appearance every Halloween!

*Toyriffic was sent this set for review from Ringside Collectibles. You can get yours at RingsideCollectibles.com

Shigcon Tank GO!

I had no idea what this thing was when I pulled it from a box of random kid stuff at my intern's school rummage sale. I could tell it's Japanese, and probably from a show like Ultraman or Kamen Rider. Maybe from the early eighties?

All that notwithstanding, it was only a quarter. So I bought it. I don't usually buy broken toys because I have enough unbroken toys to choke a horse, a very very large horse. A whole cavalry of horses. The Royal Mounted Police's entire cadre of mounts, in fact. The last thing I need is piles and piles of broken toys too. But it's unique. And it was only a quarter. So what the hell.

Using my super sleuth skills and Google, (mostly Google) I was able to discover that this drill tank is a Shigcon Tank from the tv show Daitetsujin 17. It was made by Popy in 1978.

The missiles and tank treads, as well as an antenna up top are all missing. There was also a set of 'headlights' attached below the front cab that have been broken off.

The drill-head pops out with the push of a button. Apparently the turret tilts and rotates too, which I didn't realize until I Googled this silly thing.

For it's age this thing has held up pretty well. It's as solid as a rock, and will probably last another four decades easily. I'll probably toss it in with the Intern's toy cars so she can add a few more years of playtime history to it.

Open the door, get on the floor: It's time for Tim Mee Dinosaurs!

The folks at Tim Mee also sent me a bag of their Dinosaurs! When I was a kid I had TONS of these little plastic dinosaurs. I loved them and could spend hours playing with them in the yard or on the floor of my room or the living room.

Let's take a look at the assortment Tim Mee has available now:

Ankylosaurs. These little tanks are the unstoppable forces of the dinosaur world. Even Tyrannosaurus rex can't bite through that armor! And that tail - WHAMMO! Like a mace to the face!

Dimetrodons. Not much on offense, but those sails keep them from becoming lunch.

Diplodocus. Or as we called them when I was a kid: Brontosaurus. I especially love the behind-the-science of these old school dinosaur toys. Dragging tails and upright postures; we've come a long way kids!

Hadrosaurs. I loved these 'duck billed dinosaurs' as a kid. Something about a dinosaur that was nothing more than a giant duck is pretty appealing. He's no threat, unless you have a giant loaf of bread you need to jeep safe.

Wooly Mammoths! Who doesn't love these guys? And we never cared as kids that they didn't exist in the time of dinosaurs, because GIANT HAIRY ELEPHANTS! Good times.

And speaking of good times:

Sabertooth Tigers! These guys were always bad to the fossilized bone. Those teeth may never have actually had any practical function in real life, but THOSE TEETH!

Stegosaurus was another favorite when I was a kid. Primarily because in the first or second grade I learned how to draw them from a drawing book I checked out from the school library.That whole year I drew stegosaurus all over the school. I was legend.

Triceratops. The lethal horns on these guys, coupled with the shield on the back of his head, made this guy the primary contender to the king of the dinosaurs...

Tyrannousarus Rex. What can I say about this guy? He's the king, baby!

Having these dinosaurs around again really brings back memories. My intern loves to play with them too, she asks me if I want to play 'dinosaur fight' and then we end up making them things to eat, feeding them tea, and taking them to the doctor. I don't think she knows what 'dinosaur fight' means.


*Toyriffic was sent this set for review from the manufacturer. You can get yours at Amazon.