Spiderman

Let's be honest, people today who want to have physiques of the heroes they love indulge in steroids (and a host of other drugs). But back in the late 70's those drugs weren't as well known to the public much less to any child. No, back then there was the Hulk's instant muscles! When I first saw this toy in a Zayer I was totally astounded! I could have muscles just like my favorite super hero in a matter of minutes? I was instantly sold! I can clearly remember my mom shelling out the 10 bucks for it and ripping the box open as soon as I got home. I put on the muscles, then pumped away and literally became the Hulk for a few hours. I would then watch the Hulk live-action series every Friday night at 8PM with my cut up Tough Skin jeans and these muscles and when David Banner (Billy Bixby) changed into the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno) I pumped the air into my Hulk muscles and changed right along with the actors and then rampaged all over my house. Come on, how many toys could manage this much fun? This cleverly disguised float didn't last very long as it eventually sprung a leak and kinda got mangled at the bottom of my toy chest -- but it always remained a favorite of mine! And could you believe that this "mere" toy inspired my little boy brain to go out and lift weights to become the real thing in later years? That's exactly what it did! Just look at the hunk o' man I am today...thank you Remco!

While I love old, ugly toys because they possess a certain amount of charm, this one takes the cake. Now I love Captain America, always have and always will. But this toy put him on another level with me because of how cutely disproportionate he is. Yup, that's right, just look at the size of his head! I absolutely loved how enormous it was and it made me adore this figure even more! What kid wouldn't enjoy a big headed, 12" Star Spangled super hero to fight off the forces of evil with? The bright colors of the costume, the shield, the box and the awesome "Fly Away Action" made me believe in the American dream! Simply put, this is the best Captain America action figure ever and the rest are not even close! Go get em' Cap!!!

This toy is one of those that everyone seemed to forget, but once they see it again years later they remembered it and recalled how awesome it was! The reason why I know this is because I bought a few of them back in 2007 and brought one of them to a convention to raffle off. Sure enough, I made a killing from all the fanboys who entered it and wanted to relive their childhood (the proud winner was my good buddy, Marc Lombardi) on a toy that they never thought they would see again. In truth, I never had this as a kid, but my friend up the street did and we used to make awesome characters in his backyard (I remember a girl who lived between us having the Barbie version). When I purchased a bunch of them years later, I gave one set to my daughter Bryn who loved it and played the crap out of it until she broke it and lost a few pieces. Man, good times.

Ranking this figure might be a little odd to some of you because it came out in 2004 and I wasn't really a kid (still thought like one though) and I wasn't even collecting toys or comics anymore. Plus the man himself; General Patton isn't even a fictional super hero or character. But when I was turned onto the quality and sheer awesomeness of Dragon Figures I couldn't help but be impressed. And while being a big WWII fanboy and a worshiper of the late-great General S. Patton Jr., this figure impressed me profoundly. There were a total of four different Patton figures made by this line and while I bought and loved all of them, it was the Cyber-Hobby Exclusive figure that I envied and drooled over the most. I recommend any collector of action figures to check out Dragon Figures because you won't be disappointed.

The Team America toy line was an attempt by Ideal to replace their successful Evil Knievel toy line after Knievel served six months for battery in the late 1970s, and it used many of the same molds and designs. These stunt cycles were some of the most fun and action-packed toys EVER made!!! You put them in their holdster, rev them up and they shot out at top speeds and leaped and jumped and crashed into everything in sight! I was lucky enough to get the hard to find Black Murader Stunt Chopper as a kid and thought I was cool as hell in my neighborhood because everyone else had the regular stunt motorcycles of Honcho, Wolf and Reddy. Little did I know a totally-magnificent Captain America stunt chopper was also in toy stores and I never knew about it. I found out almost 10 years later when someone had a picture of it...truth be told, I nearly shit myself. I couldn't understand why Ideal made a Cap cycle and then after some research I found out that Team America debuted in Captain America #269 (1982). A few years after that I miraculously located one and paid a pretty hefty fee to purchase it still sealed in the box. Now while most collectors would have loved to have this toy that way, I didn't. I was tempted for years to crack it open, to hold it, to rev it up and to play with it just once. Sadly, I never did and sold it off with a big chunk of my collection back in 2003. I've never seen another since then and I don't want to because it breaks my heart.

While Mego Corp. was famous for making their World's Greatest Super-Heroes 8" action figures that ran from 1973 until 1980 (which are extremely collectible today), it was their Captain Marvel/SHAZAM! figure was always special to me. Sure, the Hulk, Thor, Thing, Superman, Batman, Spider-man, Conan and the like were always perennial favorites (I can even remember my mother having a bunch of boxed Batman's at the top of her bedroom closet ready to give my brother and me a new one if it broke...jeez, how much could I get for those today?). But out of all of these awesome figures, I simply adored Captain Marvel the most. I think it had something to do with the bright colors of his costume, the lightning bolt on his chest, the bright blue packaging it came in (especially the Kresge card packaging) and acting out scenes of the SHAZAM! live-action series on television by Filmation that ran on Saturday mornings. And did you know the head-sculpt on the figure was based on the actor, Jackson Botswick who played Captain Marvel in the first season of that series? While I had a lot of fun with this toy as a kid, I've grown to appreciate it even more as an adult...SHAZAM!!!

Nothing, but nothing was better to me as a kid than a big, playable Hulk figure to smash things with! Mego Corp. did one hell of a job in designing this Hulk figure and did a great job on the box as well (I loved all the Hulk pictures on the back of it as a kid). He looked and felt awesome in my little hands as a child and I took him everywhere. I can't even remember how many figures my mother got me when I was a kid because I would play with it until it fell apart. One day my mom came home with two of them (one for me and my brother) and it had "Fly Away Action"...oh my god...now the Hulk could leap with just a pull of a string. How awesome was that? Check me out on Christmas morning at 5 years of age in 1978 in the picture below (the bottom right holding the 12" Hulk and Energized Spider-man figures), now that's one happy kid!

The dream of having real-life super powers was always believable to me when I had this toy. There was something truly magical and dangerous about it. Having the power to shoot something from my wrist and it could stick to something or even destroy something was the stuff my kid dreams were made of. I loved the Hulk "Flying Fist" (I loved that name as well) and sporting his actual suction cupped fist on my wrist to shoot and smash things with was pure heaven. The Amazing Spider-man "Web-Shooter" was also endeared to me because it made more sense to the character's powers. And I actually thought I could swing building to building with it (luckily, I've never tried). I thought the possibilities were endless with these toys and to me, they almost were. I'll have to give the Hulk the nod over Spidey because he was my favorite super hero, but truth be told, I loved them both equally.

When you talk about the all time greatest table top games ever made people say Chess, Checkers, Parcheesi, Scrabble, etc. I say Hulk Smash all those pretenders! The absolute greatest table top game ever made is this one!! And that is the truth! It captures all the elements and the unpredictability of the Hulk mythos in amazing fashion! Bruce Banner building and protecting, the anticipation of getting angry and changing, the Hulk's rouges attacking him (including the Silver Surfer), plus the best part of all, the Hulk's unstoppable rampage in actual motorized action! This game is the stuff every Hulk-fan's dreams are made of and it is fun as hell! What also makes it so good and topping out at number 3 on this list is the replay factor, because it never gets old. I played this until the Hulk broke when I was a kid. I loved it so much that today as an adult I bought a few of them to play with my daughter and at friends houses -- it's that good. Even people who are not fans of super heroes will have fun and appreciate this game. It's a classic, so go and try to play it today because you don't want to make the Hulk angry.

To anyone that knows me there can only be one true answer to what the greatest toy that influenced, shaped and destroyed my life is...The Incredible Hulk Elastic figure by Mego Corp. I can go into great detail about it but that might take to long so read the story here; In Search of the Holy Grail of Hulk to understand the havoc this toy wrought on my childhood. With Mego trying to capitalize on the Hulk live-action series that was all the rage in the late 70's. They distributed the Hulk Elastic figure first and separately from the others (the Hulk came with a different box). This figure sold a ton, but unfortunately, not many would survive the next 30 years. And today this figure remains one of the most elusive and most rare of the entire stretch line. Finding one in perfect condition is next to impossible, with only 1 known that hasn't been restored in any way and isn't in need of any repair...oh yeah, I have it! This Hulk looks fantastic and I believe it to be the best representation Mego ever did of the hero. With his big, bulky body, purple pants and mean green head sculpt, he is the Hulk in all his glory! He is also by far the heaviest stretch figure ever made. With a magical look, it's no surprise why this toy is considered the stuff of legend in the realm of Hulk memorabilia. It remains the supreme “Holy Grail” of all Hulk collectibles! Simply put, this Hulk toy is the strongest one there is.

I had to add this because although I didn't know about it as a child, it was another version of my favorite toy, The Elastic Hulk and for that I have to pay homage to it. And my pen name is based on both of these toys combined, hence the name I call myself -- "The Mego Stretch Hulk"...see how clever I am? Denys Fisher was a company in Europe licensed under Mego Corp. (they also produced the Stretch Armstrong and all their other stretch figures overseas for Kenner). In 1979, Mego used their Marvel license to have them make a stretch Hulk figure. This Hulk was manufactured in the Thorp Arch Estates in Wethergy, England. It was only distributed in Europe and was never made available in the United States. It was said to be sold only out of either Kays or Freemans mailorder catalogs. Only a small amount made their way into some local UK stores. One of these stores was called the Asda Supermarket in Doncaster, England. The Hulk had a price tag of only 8.99 (about 15.00 in US currency at the time).

So let's hear what your favorites are!