Berzerker
Deity
Hot Wheels
Z-Bots!
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I grew up during the golden age of toys-which-were-also-collectables, but these guys were my jam. I think what appealed to me was the variety and creativity of designs; with Hot Wheels you're always getting some variation of "car", but each of these guys is a character. Or, at least, one half of a character, there was a few re-skins as you can see below. But in any case, you're immediately confronted with a cast of heroes and villains who demand epic stories of conquest and, y'know, robot stuff.
In retrospect, they were taking some clear pointers from the WWF figures from the early '90s, which I think were the first to apply the Hot Wheels "collect 'em all" model to humanoid figures.
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I had this one; it was marketed as "Crossbows & Catapults" in the UK. No minotaurs or cyclopses, unfortunately.
There was also a green dragon, maybe that existed in the british version too?
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I had the dragon and the minotaur, as well as the main tower sets. Apparently a trojan horse also existed, but perhaps not around when I was buying these toys.
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The object of the game was to take out the enemy soldiers (not sure if you can really take out catapults- maybe if you caused them to fall, but the ballistas couldn't fall, so perhaps they either could not be removed themselves or they are to be taken out of the game after a direct hit. At any rate, for obvious reasons, you won't hit anything above the ground with a ballista, though you may still cause stuff to fall off a tower), so that the towers/heavy weapons could no longer be supplied with the red and blue objects they hurled to the enemy.
I don't recall if the minotaur-dragon-cyclops was immobilized in a similar way. While the minotaur and the cyclops could realistically be hit and caused to fall, the dragon has a very low center of gravity so maybe it was dependent on nearby soldiers (or maybe it just didn't move, unlike the minotaur and the cyclops).
As a relatively young 'un, this thread encouraged me to dig through the Transformers wiki (seriously, if you're a Transformers nerd, it's worse than TV Tropes) to actually find what Optimus toy I used to love and cherish.
Turns out it was the G2 re-issue of the G1 mold (1993, 1994, first item in the list). I'm guessing the 1994 release as it says the later release featured lighter blue components, and mine definitely was lighter than in the picture provided. My brother got the G2 Megatron (ain't that how it always is with siblings, eh), and unlike mine I don't even think it was thrown out![]()
I was too young for the original Transformers but I had Beast Wars.
I had buckets of Beast Wars. They were all thrown out when I left for university.I was too young for the original Transformers but I had Beast Wars.
I had buckets of Beast Wars. They were all thrown out when I left for university.
Don't ask me why, because I have no idea, hah! I would like to say "I guess it's so I could grow up", but I've just ordered the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar, soooo.