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My Top 10 Toys of 2025

On January 20, 2026January 24, 2026 By thedragonfortressIn GI Joe, LEGO, Misc, Transformers15 Comments

Hey there. It’s been a little while. I was on a roll for a bit there until I wasn’t. But, to get back into the swing of things, I thought I’d do something easy. Easy is relative, of course. But this was a much more simple affair than my usual reviews.

I still have another Exosquad/Robotech article coming up. I’ve taken more than 80 photos, I just sort of petered out on writing it. Hopefully posting this inconsequential little thing will help kick me back into gear, as I’ve missed writing and taking photos. October was very busy, and then the holidays came after that. December has been a tough month for me since my mom passed, but I actually did celebrate the usual holidays this year with friends and loved ones– that hasn’t happened since 2021.

I’m doing my best to be back in the saddle, as this silly little website is still important to me.

I didn’t buy a ton of new (or even vintage) toys in 2025, but there were some gems I wanted to highlight. I did have a lot of fun with some new additions to the collection last year, and this post helped remind me that toys are still something I care about. They’ll always be a big part of my life.

Thanks for joining me! Let’s take a look at 10 pieces of plastic junk that will eventually linger in a landfill or contribute to a Texas-sized garbage patch in the ocean long after I’ve departed this mortal coil.

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1994 GI Joe Carcass (Star Brigade) Review

On September 23, 2025September 24, 2025 By thedragonfortressIn GI Joe9 Comments

I’m back with another GI Joe review, but I’m still in a heavy science fiction mood. I’m not sure how soon that mood will pass, but it seems to be sticking around for a while. So I’m going to roll with it. I love all things science fiction, though– robots, aliens, spaceships, laser guns, laser swords, giant robots, robot dogs, etc. I love almost all of it. Except for sci-fi prestige dramas, which you can miss me with. Not nearly enough lasers or spaceships, usually.

1994’s Carcass, from GI Joe’s Star Brigade sub-line, fits my current mood perfectly. It’s not a toy I had any experience with before writing this review, but that made this whole thing kind of a novel experience. I always appreciate novel experiences.

Shout out to my good friend Cody, who requested this review when I did a little informal poll on my last GI Joe post. You can always feel free to make review suggestions, especially when I ask for that kind of feedback.

Anyway, let’s shift into hyperdrive and take a look at 1994 Carcass, who Cody refers to as “the silly alien man.”

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1995 Exosquad Typhonus w/ Deep Submergence E-Frame (Special Mission) Review

On September 11, 2025September 11, 2025 By thedragonfortressIn ExosquadLeave a comment

I’ve been in an Exosquad mood lately, which is all thanks to Exosquad Archive’s Exo Gear set I reviewed a couple weeks ago. Since then, I’ve retrieved the rest of my Exosquad toys from storage, organized them with the toys I had here at home, and sorted out all of my extra parts. I even spent way too much money on a few bits and pieces on eBay.

Since I’m currently fixated on Playmates’ mid-90s sci-fi mecha toy line, it was pretty much inevitable that it would be the subject of a review.

Today we’re looking at Special Missions Typhonus with Deep Submergence E-Frame, which was released in 1995. This was one of the six Exosquad toys I had as a kid, so it’s pretty special to me.

This toy also does a lot of things, even though it looks pretty basic on the surface. But there’s a lot to uncover and unpack here, so I’m excited to share it with you.

Are you ready for a deep dive?

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1993 GI Joe Dr. Mindbender Review

On August 26, 2025 By thedragonfortressIn GI Joe13 Comments

Today we’re looking at a GI Joe figure that’s both iconic to many people around my age and despised by many people who grew up with the earlier years of A Real American Hero. It’s a divisive figure.

You’ll probably guess which camp I’m in, though. You already know what kind of website this is.

So let’s take a look at a figure that represents Dr. Mindbender’s transformation from orthodontist-turned-muscle-Super-Scientist into cyborg-LA-Lakers-fanatic-Mad-Doctor.

This should be a fun one, so let’s get started.

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Alec DeLeon and JT Marsh's E-Frames, featuring pieces from Exo Gear from Exosquad Archive

Exo Gear from Exosquad Archive Review

On August 12, 2025 By thedragonfortressIn Exosquad2 Comments

I’m particularly excited about today’s review for several reasons. Writing about Exosquad Archive’s excellent (and unexpected) Exo Gear accessory set gave me a great excuse to delve back into the world of Exosquad. I hadn’t really played around with my old Exosquad toys in several years, which is a shame because they are some of the best toys in existence.

Writing about this set also gives me a chance to celebrate Exosquad Archive, which is an amazing website run by great people. The fact that they’re actually releasing new Exosquad-related toys in 2025 is just incredible. I never thought I’d be expanding my Exo Collection with something like this some 30 years past the toy line’s end.

Adding something new to a toy collection really encourages you to go back and appreciate what you have. And since most of the Exosquad pieces I don’t already have are very rare and very expensive, this little accessory pack is very much appreciated.

Today we’re looking at a smattering of newly released rocket launchers, long rifles, holdout pistols, and other assorted blasters for your ExoFleet and Neosapien armies. Let’s jack in.

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2025 GI Joe ReAction+ Snake Eyes holding a sword, standing on an orange background

2025 GI Joe ReAction+ Snake Eyes Review

On July 30, 2025July 30, 2025 By thedragonfortressIn GI Joe15 Comments

Last week, I promised you more GI Joe and today I am making good on that promise. Today we’re looking at a figure that has absolutely nothing to do with the 1990s, but it’s a figure I have a lot to say about anyway.

I’ve been mostly pretty excited about Super7’s recent foray into ARAH-style o-ring GI Joe figures. None of them have been perfect, but most of them have at least been pretty fun and interesting. Super7 is a company I have mixed feelings about, but each wave of their GI Joe ReAction+ line seems to be getting better. They’re at least taking fan feedback into account and learning from some of their mistakes.

Super7 is leaning way too heavily on Cobra Commander and Snake Eyes so far. We learned over the course of the entire 00s that making the same character again and again gets tedious and kills fan interest. In this case, though, I didn’t mind Super7 releasing a second Snake Eyes only three waves into the toy line.

You see, a proper purple Sunbow Snake Eyes is something of a dream figure for me. We’ve come close with a few releases in the past, but this one is actually the real deal– it was built from the ground up to represent the brand mascot’s cartoon appearance.

I was very excited to buy this figure and mess around with it. And, now that some months have passed since its release, I think I’ve finally gathered all of my thoughts.

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty on Super7’s 2025 GI Joe ReAction+ Snake Eyes figure.

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My First Gunpla in 23 Years

On July 22, 2025July 23, 2025 By thedragonfortressIn Gundam14 Comments

I’m glad to be writing for this website again. I really enjoyed writing this last review and I’ve hopefully gotten over my general malaise and writer’s block. There are many reasons I took more than a year off, and I might elaborate on them at some point. But for now, I’m back and doing my best.

This isn’t my usual Dragon Fortress Fare, but it is tangentially related to my childhood interests, so we’ll say that it fits the bill well enough and go with it. And, if it’s not for you and doesn’t suit your interests, you can always come back for the next one.

I own many, many Gundam action figures. I prefer action figures to model kits. But when you start watching Gundam Build Fighters and Build Divers, something starts to happen inside your brain. Damn you, 30 minute toy commercials disguised as cartoons…

I recently built the first Gundam model kit I’ve attempted in over two decades. It was not an easy process and the results weren’t spectacular, but perfection wasn’t the desired outcome. I’m not some woo-woo TikTok influencer, but the journey was still the entire point of this endeavor.

Building this kit was an exercise in patience, overcoming challenges, and giving myself grace. And, on that level, it met my expectations.

As many of you know, I am disabled. I try not to harp on it too much, especially because it’s not the most visible disability, but it does affect my life and who I am as a person. In short, I have very, very shaky hands, poor motor skills, and bad hand/eye coordination. It gets worse with each passing year. There are many days where I can barely raise a glass of water to my mouth, let alone pose and photograph an army doll.

I’m not saying this to throw myself a pity party or drum up sympathy, I’m just stating it because it was the motivation for this entire project. In general day-to-day life I’m just fine and many people may not even notice that I have a disability. But it’s still something that I deal with and it has an impact on everything I do, including my toy-related interests.

So I thought returning to a hobby I enjoyed as a teenager, one that requires some amount of steadiness and precision, might be a good thing for me. This little blog post documents my journey.

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1991 GI Joe Sci-Fi on a gradient background, holding his weapons

1991 GI Joe Sci-Fi Review

On July 7, 2025July 8, 2025 By thedragonfortressIn GI Joe12 Comments

Hello, everyone. It’s been a while. There are a multitude of reasons for that, but I probably won’t go into that until my next post (which is about 50% done, and will interest approximately 9% of my audience). I was actually planning on publishing that post first, but I thought about it some more and decided a more traditional GI Joe review might be the best way to ease myself back into blogging about old plastic dolls.

Today we’re looking at 1991 GI Joe Sci-Fi, which has been one of my favorite ARAH figures since I got it as a kid. 1991 is my favorite year for the vintage GI Joe toy line, which is something I refuse to shut up about. You could probably put an XH86 LLOM beam laser rifle to my head and I’d still keep yapping about it. And yap I shall!

Thanks so much for joining me again after all this time. Let’s take a deep dive into 1991’s Directed Energy Expert, Seymour P. Fine.

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My Top 10 Toys of 2023

On January 26, 2024January 27, 2024 By thedragonfortressIn Gundam, Misc, Star Trek, TMNT, Transformers5 Comments

Hi, welcome back. It’s time to share my top 10 toys of 2023 with you. Better late than never, right? At the end of the post, I also have a little life update for you, which you can skip if you’d like. But I’m still alive and still thinking about this silly website.

Here are the parameters for this top 10– all of these toys came out in 2023 (or close to it), and older toys I bought last year don’t count. If older toys did count, almost none of these items would make this list. But there’s still some good stuff here!

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1990 GI Joe Range Viper Review

On October 31, 2023October 31, 2023 By thedragonfortressIn GI Joe9 Comments

Hello. I hope you’ve all enjoyed your Spooky Season. This is one of my favorite times of the year. I’m not really into super gory horror movies, but I do love costumes, candy, kitsch, mischief, and Fall weather.

I’ve never really done much of a Halloween review before, and I suppose this isn’t much of one either. But, as far as vintage GI Joe figures go, the 1990 Range Viper is pretty spooky. He’s wearing a mask that consists of a stylized skull and some brains, after all. Plus, he probably eats bugs every day.

So it’s very thematically appropriate.

So Happy Halloween! And, as always, thanks for joining me.

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The Dragon Fortress

Author: thedragonfortress