Knock-Off Mystery Toys From the 80s

posted in: Nostalgia Culture | 0

One of the more fascinating aspect of toys the 80s (and I am sure the decades before as well) is the fact that there was an abundance of cheap knock-off toys available everywhere. There was some effort to enforce copyrights on some things, but that really didn’t seem to have much effect until later decades. So your favorite toy you remember fondly might end up being a cheap knock-off of some more famous toy – and now you can’t find much (if any) information on it because it was so unofficial. Sometimes a few rare things will pop-up on blogs like Plaid Stallions, but that is a rare occurrence.

So you also have to wonder about the safety standards of the material used in these toys… especially the bane of all old childhood toys: lead paint. Yay.

While I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family that could afford some of the bigger name Star Wars and Mego toys, I also had many family members that were “thrifty” shoppers – meaning they frequently hit the bargain toy racks at Gibsons, Eckerd Drugstores, and local mom and pop toy stores in the mall. These places were havens for stuff that would never be legally allowed today. And lets be honest – my parents also like to save money on things when the could as well.

One of my favorite toys in Kindergarten was this robot:

So much so that it is one of the few toys I have a picture with. I have cropped this old pic of me down to just the robot, and of course the awesome t-shirt with Spider-man playing football. Obviously, the first guess with this is that it is a Shogun Warrior toy. I have looked through every online collection I can find of Shogun Warrior toys – and can’t find one that looks like this. I have looked through their competitors – nothing. This toy was possibly an unlicensed knock-off. It was all plastic (Shogun toys this size at the time were die-cast metal), but the fists did shoot out… at first (until my parents decided that was too dangerous and they hot-glued them into the arms).

So who knows – maybe someone will see this and be able to tell me where to find more information about this toy?

Update: The mystery seems(?) to be solved – this appears to be a Kidco Space Defender. Although, mine seemed to have a slightly different color scheme (yellow chest plate, blue fists).

Tengger Cavalry: Nomadic Folk Metal from Mongolia

I read a music discussion online about different combinations of things that people mix with metal. Someone made a joke about how you never hear about “Nomadic Folk Metal” and thought: there has to be someone. Turns out there are many nomadic folk bands. Probably one of the more well known ones is Tengger Cavalry. They blend a bit of an epic nomadic horseback vibe in their metal with traditional Mongolian elements like Tuvan throat singing for some vocals and instruments like morin khuur. They also speed up things to incorporate elements of death metal-ish vocals as well – its really an interesting mix.

My favorite songs are the ones like “Cavalry in Thousands” below that mix the throat singing, metal instruments, Mongolian instruments, and a slower epic nomadic vibe. There are many other Mongolian nomadic metal bands out there with different mixes of traditional instruments, metal styles, and vocals styles that I will be covering in the future. Unfortunately the lead singer of Tengger Cavalry – Nature Ganganbaigal – passed away this year. You can find a lot of their music on BandCamp, or follow the future of the band on their Facebook page.

Believe the Hype: You Need to Read “Children of Blood and Bone” Now

posted in: Modern Geekery | 0

I know that a lot of the buzz for Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi was last year, but I just finished it this year and I loved it. Many people call it “Young Adult Fiction,” which is true in many senses, but to be honest it reads like high quality high fantasy to me. Can’t wait for the sequel and movie that are both in the works. Probably the best summary of the premise of the book, the underlying meanings of the events, and the inspiration for the book is by Adeyemi herself on the Tonight Show (worth watching even if you don’t like Fallon):

Adeyemi describes Children of Blood and Bone as “Wakanda with magic,” which is a good way to describe it in some ways… but the country of Orïsha in her book is not a a fictional country that exists in a different version our world like Wakanda does. It is its own world and culture and gods and social structures and so on, which is why I put it in the “high fantasy” genre myself.

Adeyemi also teaches creative writing. To be honest, I have read many things written by people that teach creative writing that really aren’t that creative. This book is. There is a main character throughout the book, but Adeyemi decided to write each chapter from the viewpoint of the main character or two other important characters. The title of each chapter lets you know which point of view you get for that chapter.

This is an important choice, because it allows Adeyemi to explore different perspectives without the jarring effect of switching points of view so many authors fail to handle well. But even more importantly is how each different point of view serves a deeper purpose of helping the reader to examine their own privileges and prejudices from different angles. If you are really engaging with this book, you will come away convicted of how you need to change, despite the fact that you are reading about a fantasy world called Orïsha. Prejudice against those that society sees as “lesser” due to skin color, social, status, past conquest, or any other factor is framed in this book as a problem that exists even in other worlds that never knew Earth’s religions, power structures, and historical events. This in turn removes objections that readers would have of “if I had been alive back then” and examine yourself in ways that our ahistorical revisionism tends to prevent us from doing.

Of course, layered on top of that are some intriguing story lines and character developments that also entertain at a pure surface level as well. Lots of twists that you didn’t see coming… including an ending that is not what you would expect. Well, you kind of come to expect a twist ending by the time you get there, but the one you get is not what you think it was going to be, but it kind of is if you think about it. Of course, you are only given a peek at the entire twist at the very end, meaning we have to wait until the next book in this trilogy comes out. Can’t wait!

Bloodywood: Street Metal / Rap with Traditional Instruments from India

Bloodywood is a “street metal” band from India that mixes modern metal riffs, rap + screamed + sung vocals, and various traditional Indian instruments (especially the dhol, ektara, and Indian style flute). Karan Katiyar and Jayant Bhadula started the band by recording covers of various pop songs, but then morphed into a band that does originals. The metamorphosis seemed to occur after they released “Ari Ari,” which is technically a cover of the Punjabi folk song “Baari Barsi” that is about fighting for unity (“despite all our differences, we are one”). I say “technically” because about 70%+ of their version of the song is original to the band – the riffs, the rap vocals, the way the various instruments play together, etc. But after this song, it seems that they started doing all original songs.

The video to “Ari Ari” is also an excellent place to start with the band, as it mixes in scenes from the streets of India with a local Indian dance group (Master Academy of Dance) they found that was able to come up with some great choreography for the song. Note that the rapper Raoul Kerr was not a part of the band at this time, but a guest on this song. He worked out so well in the mix that he is a member of the band now. Their new songs are awesome as well, and I will probably write about them here in the future. Follow them on Facebook or YouTube, and for now enjoy the awesomeness that is “Ari Ari” (FYI there is some language in here in case you are listening at work):