Category: Identify the Toy Page 1 of 2

I came across this photo of me from Christmas, either 1983 or 1984 (I think ’84). Castle Grayskull was obviously the big gift that year, as my huge grin shows. But then I noticed something in the back and, being the obsessed person I am, I have to know what it is.

Anyone recognize this robot? It looks like it might be radio-controlled, which is odd, since I generally disliked R/C stuff. Though maybe this was the toy that made me realize I didn’t like R/C toys.

UPDATE: And we already have our answer – it’s Tobor!

Click for larger version

Doc Thomas here. I’m back with a new bunch of toys I need identified – this time it looks like various early Transformers and Transformer-knock offs, including many that are busted or incomplete – and as usual I’m far too busy performing unnecessary surgery to figure out who is who – so here’s the deal: send an email to Poe naming as many of these figures as you can. The person to identify the most will win a Poe Prize. Deadline is Friday, April 26 at 11:59pm.

Winner will be determined by whoever identifies the most toys correctly or, in the case of a tie, whoever gets their submission in first.

I attended a family wedding this weekend. Included in the festivities was one of those collages with photos of the bride and groom as kids. My father spotted this pic and immediately sought me out to identify the figures, but I was stumped. Even the groom himself has no idea what they are, though he suspects he’ll recognize the name when he hears it.

There’s more to this pic – specifically, the young groom taking a bath – but I decided it was better not to post the pic of the young boy taking a bath on my website and just stick to the figures. However, I can tell you that based on context these figures are larger than 3 ¾”. I would guess somewhere between 5″-7″. The time frame is mid-1980s or so, although the figures could be a little older than that.

My best guesses were Coleco’s Rambo line or LJN’s Dune line. If there’s a clear winner, he or she will get a Poe Prize.

UPDATE: The groom has confirmed that these are indeed Rambo figures. And on a fun side note, there was a story told at the wedding where the groom, when he was young, wanted to change his name to “Turbo.” Perhaps this was his inspiration?

CW sends along this request to crowdsource the collective knowledge of the Poester community to identify a toy he once had. (Jitsu shown solely for size reference.)

Hi Poe,

I’m hoping your readers can help me. I’m trying to find out the name of a Ninja action figure toyline from the early nineties. From what I remember, the figures stood 7-8″ tall, and had the big five articulation points (I think they may have had a kicking action feature too, but not sure). They all shared the same body, but had unique heads. They also all shared the same accessories, which included a crossbow, sword, possibly a knife or two; which were molded in a bronze color plastic and could be stored in their soft black plastic belt with incorporated quiver.

Their pants and boots were painted to match the color of their fabric masks and shirts. I personally owned three of these guys, but I think there was a whole bunch of them.

I had a purple ninja with a skull for a head (his shirt is in the pic), a green ninja with a snake-themed head and I think a scale design on the shirt. The good guy I had was a red ninja, with an american flag shirt and he was a white guy with a blonde flat top. I included Jitsu in the pic just for a size reference.

I remember only finding these figures in a toy store in Arlington TX that looked like a castle from the outside, but I can’t be sure if it was Child World or not. I remember as a kid thinking inside the store was pretty much just like Toys R Us, but I thought they had a better selection.

I hope I gave a good enough description that someone could tell me what these were, because endless google searches aren’t helping.