Mutagen Men Toycast

We are...transformed! For our second look into the vast world of Transformers we visit Cybertron after Megatron's cyber-plague decimated the planet. The streets crawl with his army of mindless Vehicons. Can the confused and disorganized Maximals break Megatron's iron grip on their homeworld? Beast Machines was the controversial sequel to Beast Wars, featuring a strange toyline and a strange TV series. Join us as we introduce Eric to the weird and wild world of Maximals vs. Vehicons!

Follow along at TFwiki: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Beast_Machines:_Transformers_(toyline)

In 2002, Hasbro reinvented the classic G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line for the new millennium, re-introducing classic 1980s characters like Duke, Snake Eyes, and Cobra Commander with brand-new designs. The figures of what became known as the "new sculpt era" featured awkward proportions and bizarre gimmicks but nevertheless found popularity amongst both kids and adults. In today's episode we do a survey of the three sub-line imprints of this age, starting with "Joe Vs. Cobra," following through "Spy Troops" and finishing with "Valor Vs. Venom." Join Eric and Dustin as they try to talk Luke into enjoying his least favorite era of G.I. Joe toys!

Follow along with YoJoe.com's directory:

2002: https://www.yojoe.com/action/02/

2003: https://www.yojoe.com/action/03/

2004: https://www.yojoe.com/action/04/

2005: https://www.yojoe.com/action/05/

Step into the ring with the Mutagen Men for our first (and likely only) coverage of the wild world of pro wrestling toys! Mattel's Masters of the WWE Universe was one of our favorite toylines of the last several years, mashing up WWE wrestlers with the theme and style of Masters of the Universe. This line also served as a prelude to the massively popular Masters of the Universe Origins toyline. Pull up your steel chair and get ready for an hour of the Mutagen Men mischaracterizing and mispronouncing famous wrestlers!

Complete list of WWEternia figures: https://toyhabits.com/shop/wrestling-figures/shop-masters-of-the-wwe-universe/

In 2003 Hasbro unleashed XEVOZ, a mix-and-match action figure line featuring skeletons, androids, ninjas, insects, werewolves, elementals, and much more. Toy collectors raved about the line's endless creativity. It barely managed to last four waves. In this week's episode we explore the many amazing designs featured in the line, talk about our own creations, and ponder why XEVOZ didn't become the enduring success it deserved to be.

Millionaire Playboy's Xevoz list and reviews: http://www.millionaireplayboy.com/toys/xevozlist.php

Star Wars has been a staple of the toy aisles since 1978 but it may surprise that there were some years since where the presence of Luke, Vader, Han, Leia, and the rest of the inhabitants of the galaxy far, far away were absent in plastic form. Those years cross with the childhoods of the Mutagen Men and in today's episode we talk about what it was like when Star Wars first exploded back into toy stores for the first time since the 80s. Power on your oversized lightsaber and grit your teeth as we fly our X-Wings into the most pumped-up and battle-ready era of Star Wars toys!

Helpful links:

Rebelscum.com POTF2 guide: https://www.rebelscum.com/POTF2.asp

Gundam Wing first hit U.S. airwaves just behind the other titans of the late 90s anime boom and with it came an onslaught of plastic merchandise, not the least of which were the imports of Bandai's 4.5-inch scale Mobile Suit in Action!! figures. Two out of three Mutagen Men collected this line extensively as it appeared in import shops and later American toy retailers, and the third enjoys recollecting all the figures he passed up in its original era. Join us as we mispronounce names like Qubeley, Galbaldy, and Dom for 60 minutes of mecha madness!

For a concise list of MSIA action figures (both U.S. and Japanese), check out this page over at Gundam Wiki: https://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/Mobile_Suit_in_Action!!

G.I. Joe Sigma Six was a controversial toyline that sized up Hasbro's popular military action figures and outfitted them with huge multifunction loadouts, cloth clothes, and buckets of style. Many fans ignored it at the time for its massive overhaul of the classic Joe look. This week we celebrate the weirdness and the creativity of one of the best and most overlooked eras of the Real American Hero.

Want more? Hop over to the mostly still functional Sigma 6 Central for a visual compendium of this toyline: https://www.joebattlelines.com/s6c/toys.html

For our first-ever episode on Hasbro's long-lived toyline starring a race of autonomous robotic organisms, we start with one of the least-loved and most overlooked lines of all its history. Transformers Energon featured gimmicks pulled willy-nilly from all over Transformers' timeline. It was a kitchen sink of ideas, and not all of them worked. We pick out our favorite powerlinxing Autobots, hyper mode Decepticons, and try to decide why Energon is mostly forgotten in this era of hyper-marketed nostalgia.

Helpful links...

An overview of Transformers Energon: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers:_Energon_(franchise)

Pictures of each figure in the line: https://www.tfu.info/series/energon.htm

Our first foray into Lego begins with the venerable Castle theme, a theme full of dragons, wizards, skeletons, ghosts, knights, and even the occasional vampire. We start with the pre-minifigure Castle sets and traverse its history from a 1970s Weetabix promotional item through to the extreme 90s and beyond. Grab your chrome gold chalice and join us at the Guarded Inn for an hour of jousting, questing, and spellcasting.

Helpful links:

Lego Castle on Brickipedia

Lego Castle on Bricklink

This week we explore the tip of the superhero toyline iceberg with Toy Biz's sprawling X-Men line from the mid-1990s. It's easy to forget the world before the MCU and other big-budget summer superhero pictures ruled pop culture, but in the 90s, the Fox Kids X-Men cartoon and its associated action figure line were among the bigger influences in the realm of superheroes. Join us as we scour the Kay-Bee Toys discount bin for the best Wolverines, Rogues, and Gambits of the 90s.

Previously on X-Men: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-K1D8y_Pxs

Pryde of the X-Men Pilot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E21a-0mywUc

X-Men Arcade Game Longplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnfuVat0zxA

X-Men Toyline Checklist at the Figure Archive: http://figure-archive.net/manuf.aspx?manufID=263