Hello friends!
I’m pleased to announce I am cohosting a new toy-themed podcast– a toycast, if you will.
Your hosts are:
We are The Mutagen Men and this is our Mutagen Men Toycast.
You can find our official home base and website here.
Our first episode is a doozy.
Hello there. Here are my top 10 toys of the year. They’re all items that actually came out in 2022. If this was a list of new-to-me things from years past that I bought this year, this would be a much more challenging list.
So here’s to taking it easy. Let’s get started.
Hello there and welcome back to The Dragon Fortress. I have multiple treats for you today.
We’re taking an in-depth look at a Russian version of everyone’s favorite ninja and chowing down on a ton of bite-sized MOTU reviews.
So click on through and let’s get started.
Continue reading “Site Updates: Russian Funskool Storm Shadow and More MOTU”
Hi there!
I promise I’m working on a full review, but I didn’t finish the photography before I had to leave town for family-related issues again.
But I do have some fun stuff for you anyway. These are a couple things I’ve been saving for a rainy day, and I believe this qualifies. Well, it’s more of a windy day, really– as I’m writing this, we’re having 65mph gusts. Fun stuff.
Today I’ve got an in-depth look at a Russian Funskool figure for you, along with even more modern day barbarians and wrestlemen.
Continue reading “Site Updates: Russian Funskool Mainframe and Even More MOTU Origins”
Hi there. Thanks for sticking with me.
As you know if you’ve been following me, my mother is very sick. She is not getting better. I’m returning to my hometown again to help take care of her. There are more people helping out this time around, but I still don’t know what that looks like.
This time I will not be taking any toys or other fun things with me. I have reserve photos taken for maybe three more posts, which I may publish as I find time. There’s a chance I won’t have the time or bandwidth to do those, either, though.
I love writing and taking photos for this website and I’ve loved connecting with all of you. I do plan to return to it as soon as I can, but I don’t know when that will be. Last time I asked others to step in and help me out, but I don’t think it’s fair to do so again.
I’ll be back as soon as I can, but I don’t have a time estimate.
Thank you again for everything.
Contrary to what some people may believe, I do buy some modern toys. I didn’t buy too many toys in general this year, though. But since I bought at least 10, I thought we could close the year out by looking at some of my favorites.
I ripped this idea off of my friend Drac. I saw him do one and had to do my own.
My list won’t be as varied as his, since basically the only modern toy lines I collect are either MOTU or Transformers related. I also like Spin Master’s Batman line quite a bit, but none of those toys quite made this list.
There’s also no GI Joe on this list because I didn’t buy any of Hasbro’s newer GI Joe stuff this year. That blue HISS looks kind of fun, though.
Anyway, let’s get into it.
Hey everyone. No new review post today. Sorry about that.
But in an excellent bit of timing, my friend Miss M just posted the episode of her podcast I was a guest on. We talked about toy store encounters, stealthily buying toys when we were teenagers, text-based online roleplaying games, and gently antagonizing toy fans. Plus, we both list our top 5 favorite 90s toy lines and talk about a Very Important Spreadsheet we’re starting. What more could you want?? Listen below or use this link to catch the episode.
I had the most fun ever being on this podcast and I hope you enjoy it, too.
And please check out Miss M’s website, Twitter, and Instagram for all of her great content. She is easily one of the most creative, funny, and kind people in the entire online toy community. It was a huge honor to work with her.
In 2001, I was going to Jack in the Box a lot. Not only did one of my friends work there, but it was also the New Hotness in town. Previously, we only really had McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Wendy’s, and some regional-type places like Arctic Circle.
In 2001, there was also something of a 12″ doll renaissance going on. The Toys R Us shelves were packed with Action Man, Max Steel, GI Joe, 21st Century Toys, BBI, and The Corps! in Barbie Doll scale. I would browse those toys every time I visited, but I never bought any.
Action Man and Max Steel also had pretty prominent Saturday morning cartoons at the time. When I saw the commercials for the cartoons (or, rarely, even caught the shows themselves), I liked the designs. I also thought the toys had some good stuff going on. But I never bought any, as I was much more into 3.75″ scale dolls and dolls that transformed into either vehicles or techno-organic beasts.
But, one day at Jack in the Box, I noticed they had a Max Steel Kids Meal toy line going on. I purchased one of the toys along with my traditional two tacos and Big Cheeseburger (how I miss that menu item).
A couple years ago, I got some of the other toys in the series, both because they are cool and because they aren’t really documented anywhere on the internet.
So here’s a quick review of (most of the) Jack in the Box Max Steel Kids Meal toy line from 2001.
GI Joe fans, you might actually be interested in this.
Continue reading “2001 Jack in the Box Kids Meal Max Steel Toy Review”
Hi there. Today we’re going to take a look at some newish Masters of the Universe Origins figures. There’s no need to worry you if this isn’t something you’re interested in, though, because I’ll have a full GI Joe review for you on Thursday.
Earlier this month, my old friend Matt asked me to be on Splinters of a Broken Sun, his most excellent actual play podcast. My friends Patrick and Trudy were also involved, so it was an extra special experience for me. We all met on text-based internet games over ten years ago, so it was a great reunion.
Anyway, we play as the church/government’s elite agents, tasked with tracking down the series’ regular protagonists. And, as Trudy said when we took a lunch break, we were “the Team Rocket of elite government agents.”
Also, I loosely based my character on Outback from GI Joe.
I think it turned out great, and I wanted to share it with you. If you want to hear my nerdy voice, if you like dark fantasy settings, and if you like the idea of three buffoons running amok in a dark fantasy setting, you’ll love this podcast.
Matt is also an excellent MC, storyteller, and GM. And he has the voice of an angel.
FFO: Harmonquest, The Adventure Zone
Click here to listen to the episode, use the embedded version below, or check it out on iTunes.
The Dragon Fortress 