Quintesson Trooper (Buzzworthy Bumblebee Troop Builder Multipack, 2023)

While The Transformers: The Movie did the expected job of featuring characters based on toys that either had already come out, or were scheduled to come out in 1986, it also featured a number characters for which no toy was ever expected. However, given enough time, Hasbro has demonstrated that almost any character featured in Transformers fiction has a decent chance of eventually becoming a mass-released official toy.^* So it is with this "Quintesson Trooper," which appeared as a bailiff in the courtroom scene as a very minor character.

"Classics" Rodimus (2006)

As most Transformers fans already know, 2026 is the 40th Anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie. Having done other celebrations of the movie in the past, I've decided to do something different this year. Most of the time I feature a Transformers toy in 2026, I intend it to be a representation of one of the characters introduced in that movie. It probably won't be the toy that actually came out in 1986 (I've featured many of those already), but it will nonetheless be one of the characters first featured in the movie. To start things off, I'm looking at the "Classics" version of Hot Rod.

The Impossible Cat - A Parody

As longtime readers know, my wife and I have been cat owners for over twenty years now. Sadly, cats have a much more limited lifespan than humans, and thus we've had to say goodbye to two of these cats (Turtle and Kona), but have recently welcomed Earl Grey (pictured) into our home. The following parody (to the tune of "The Impossible Dream" from Man of LaMancha) was written before Earl Grey came to us, and I have to say it doesn't seem to apply to him especially well. Even so, I hope you enjoy it! Maybe someday I'll get around to a proper recording....

That Time the Star Trek: The Next Generation Comic Book Did a Christmas Issue (1987)

In 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation hit television screens, and although it definitely made waves as a successor to the original series, it wouldn’t be fair to say that it was instantly popular. In fact, it’s pretty much universally agreed that the show took a while to properly hit its stride. The original comic book based on the franchise, a six-issue mini-series published by DC Comics, showed similar growing pains. One symptom of the oddities thus demonstrated is the fact that they did a Christmas story with the second ever issue. Since it’s the season, let’s have a look at this bizarre corner of the Star Trek universe.

In Honor of Dick Van Dyke's 100th Birthday - Faith, Hope and Hilarity (1970)

 

As most anyone with an eye on pop culture is probably aware, television and movie legend Dick Van Dyke will reach the age of 100 on December 13th. Although there will be other sites far better prepared to offer Van Dyke the tributes he's owed for reaching this milestone, I couldn't let this occasion pass by without a comment of my own, which I hope offers a perspective unlikely to be often repeated elsewhere....

20th Anniversary of Hoodwinked! (Limited Release date: December 16, 2005)

Almost twenty years ago, while my wife and I were on vacation, we found ourselves flipping through the channels on our room's television, and we stumbled upon a movie that reminded us of Shrek (already a few years old at this time), but instead of lampooning fairy tales in general, this movie focused on "Little Red Riding Hood," specifically. Upon our arrival back at home, we looked up the movie to secure the DVD, thus allowing us to finally watch Hoodwinked^* in its entirety.

Authentics Elita-1 (2025)

A generation or so ago, most toys came from one of five major retailers: Walmart, Target, Toys"Я"Us, Kmart, and KB Toys. Any toys sold outside of those "Big Five" were thus often referred to as "market six" toys. While many of the toys sold in these retailers were the same toys found elsewhere (sometimes well after those toys had disappeared from the "Big Five"), Hasbro would even create the occasional toy specifically intended for these more obscure venues. Fast-forward to today, and the reality is that three of those "Big Five" no longer even exist (well, as we established a few weeks ago, there is a Toys"Я"Us operating again, but it's really not the same company), and so the term "market six" became less and less accurate, and finally seems to have fallen out of use.