Mutagen Men Toycast

Welcome back to the world of indie toys! In today's return to the boundless rabbit hole of the Glyos System Series, we explore one of its largest realms: SpyMonkey Creation's Battle Tribes, and its spin-off series, ManOrMonster Studio's Warlords of Wor. These lines feature miniature fantasy and sci-fi figures taking heavy inspiration from Masters of the Universe and pro wrestling toylines, with every figure including a variety of head, outfit, and accessory options. Join us as we discuss favorite tiny barbarians, orcs, wrestlers, and dragon men, and touch on many corners of the wider Glyos world!  Resources: https://glyos.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_Tribes  https://glyos.fandom.com/wiki/Warlords_of_Wor 

Micro size has the power to surprise! Today we journey to the twilight years of Hasbro's classic Transformers toyline, when Hasbro was struggling to boost a waning audience with lots of new ideas. In 1989, one of those new ideas was Micromasters: a subline of tiny Transformers scaled to compete with Galoob's Micro Machines. We explore the patrols, the squads, the battle stations, the combiner transports, and beyond. So grab a handful of tiny Autobots or Decepticons and join us!  Follow along: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Micromaster#Toys 

Get equipped with mutagen! It's time for another look into the history of video game tie-in toylines, now featuring everyone's favorite super fighting robot, the blue bomber himself: Mega Man. We discuss our personal histories with this long-running game series and dive into several toylines depicting Mega Man and his endless battle against Dr. Wily and his army of themed robot masters. 

Strap in and journey with us to the year 2009 when Paramount and Hasbro released the first of several barely-remembered live-action G.I. Joe films: The Rise of Cobra! While the movie is perhaps best left in 2009, the accompanying toyline remains one of the best of the property's long and storied history, and may also represent the last time G.I. Joe had relevance as a property marketed primarily to children. So grab your Delta-6 Accelerator suit, weaponize the warheads, and join us for a deep dive into this often-overlooked toyline! 

One of the biggest blockbusters of the 1990s, Jurassic Park was a media extravaganza, featuring tie-in comics, games, and of course, toys. The classic Kenner JP line is deservedly beloved, featuring four-inch renditions of the famous movie characters as well as a legion of articulated dinosaur figures packed with action features like DINO DAMAGE. Today we get out our trowels and dig up the bones of the original Jurassic Park toyline, then explore several of the spin-offs and sequels. And that's chaos theory!

By popular demand, we're kicking off season three with one of the greatest toylines of the 1990s: MIGHTY MAX! Billed as "Polly Pocket for boys," Mighty Max featured tiny, palm-sized playsets called "DOOM ZONES" filled with all manner of monsters, robots, demons, and aliens. Highly inventive, filled with color, often imitated but never surpassed: join us to find out why Mighty Max captured our imaginations.  Resources: http://www.mightymharduk.altervista.org/home.htm https://www.retrojunk.com/a/9HdRb2NkdD/mighty-max-playsets  https://mightymax.fandom.com/wiki/Mighty_Max_Wiki 

Have you ever burnt out on a hobby? Rising prices, completionism, fandom drama, and other factors can wear down the fun factor of the hobbies we love. In the final episode of Mutagen Men Season 2, we discuss times we've burnt out on our hobbies, how it happened, how we recovered, and how we take steps to avoid it. Join us!

We return to one of our earlier topics: the Uncanny X-Men! We dive back into the Toy Biz and Marvel Legends world to discuss the X-Men movies, X-Men '97, X-Force, and the many, many action figures that spun out of these beloved properties. Join us for a discussion of Marvelous proportions! Excelsior!

"Conquest is made of the ashes of one's enemies!" Who said it? That's right, Starscream, the original Decepticon air commander and one of the most famous and popular Transformers of all time. Today we explore the early history of Megatron's screechy lieutenant and several of the toys that represent him through the 1980s and 1990s. Join us and follow along at TFwiki: https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Starscream_(G1)/toys 

SEND IN THE MARINES! It's time to head back into space and explore another R-Rated film franchise with a bestselling children's toyline from the 20th century! This time, we explore Kenner's beloved Aliens toyline of the early 1990s, which featured a menagerie of xenomorph designs original to the line as well as space marine figures, playsets, vehicles, and, of course, goo. We discuss our childhood interactions with Ridley Scott's and James Cameron's groundbreaking movies as well as how the xenomorphs fit into our own toy boxes. Join us!  Follow along on Figure Realm: https://www.figurerealm.com/actionfigure?action=seriesitemlist&id=183&figures=aliens 

Mighty Robots, Mighty Vehicles! In today's episode we explore GoBots, one of the most famous competitors to Transformers in the 1980s. Though it was often treated as a knock-off of Hasbro's famous and long-lived toyline, GoBots arrived first. We discuss what gives this line its reputation and whether it really deserves while visiting many of our favorite residents of Gobotron along the way. Join us!  Follow along:  https://gbwiki.shoutwiki.com/wiki/GoBots_(toyline)  https://www.the-liberator.net/site-files/robot-toys/gobots-machine-robo-series-index.htm

Today, the Mutagen Men seek strange new worlds on the edge of settled space! Welcome back to the 1990s, where toy aisles were overflowing with Kirks, Spocks, Picards, Borgs, Ferenghi, and many more 5" citizens of the galaxy, all competing for space in your toy collection. We beam ourselves up to the Captains' Couch to discuss the highs and lows of Playmates' trailblazing Star Trek series, one of the first action figure toylines marketed to both kids and adults. Join us! Follow along here: https://thetoycollectorsguide.com/playmates-1992/  Or here: https://www.wixiban.com/toys/playmates.htm 

NEXT TIME ON DRAGON BALL Z: The Z fighters are faced with their greatest challenge yet - finding good action figures of themselves! Join us as we talk about one of the most legendary manga and anime series of all time, and its rocky road to producing articulated toys of Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, and the rest of your favorite Saiyans and their adversaries. We talk Toonami, Irwin, SH Figuarts, Dragon Stars, and more, all with a secret special guest! Join us! 

Welcome to Micro-Earth! In today's episode we journey back to 1975 to explore one of the greatest Japanese toylines in history: MICROMAN. We explore the tangled, interconnected pathways of G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Micronauts as they intersect with the world of the Spy Magicians, the Acroyears, the Gunrobos, and the rest of the tiny cybernetic visitors to our planet.  Follow along at micromanforever.com! 

It's time for more Toy Biz! We return to the 90s to explore the spiritual successor to Toy Biz's smash hit X-Men line, the Spider-Man line which tied in with the similarly beloved animated series. Grab your favorite Spidey and get ready to battle Venom, Carnage, Doc Ock, Smythe, Kingpin, and a whole army of Spider Slayers on the mean streets of New York. 'Nuff said!  Follow along at Figure Realm: https://www.figurerealm.com/actionfigure?action=seriesitemlist&id=2780&figures=spidermantoybiz 

We're going back to the 80s this week to visit perhaps the most iconic toyline of the decade, Masters of the Universe! We share our childhood memories of playing with He-Man, Skeletor, Moss Man, Tung Lashor, and all the other weird denizens of Eternia and Etheria scavenged from friends and siblings in the post-MOTU 1990s. So pick up your Power Sword and Havok Staff and join us! 

We welcome a new guest onto the show: industry veteran and indie toy rock star Jesse DeStasio! Jesse is an artist, musician, and videographer, but in the hobby he's known as the co-creator and co-host of Toy Pizza YouTube channel as well as the co-creator of and mastermind behind Knights of the Slice, an independent, Glyos-compatible action figure line. We chat with Jesse about designing toys for Jazwares, marketing his own creations to the indie realm, the status of the toy industry now, the role that nostalgia plays in how we enjoy our toys, and more!  Knights of the Slice on the Glyos Wiki: https://glyos.fandom.com/wiki/Knights_of_the_Slice  Action Figure of the Millennium Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jessedestasio 

We just couldn't help it! With Lego Space making waves in 2024, we had to return to our favorite classic Lego theme, warping to the end of the golden age of the classic themes in the late 90s, the rise of Star Wars, and the intermediate return of the theme throughout the 2000s and the 2010s. We discuss UFO, Roboforce, Insectoids, Life on Mars, Mars Mission, Space Police III, and others along the way! Follow along at https://brickset.com/ . 

WHO YA GONNA CALL? By popular demand, the Mutagen Men strap on their proton packs to bust all the Dracula Monsters, Eye-Poppin' Ghosts, and Stay-Puft Marshmallow Men in New York City. Kenner's The Real Ghostbusters was one of the most beloved licensed toylines of the 1980s, featuring both a range of fantastic action figures, ghosts, and vehicles, as well as role-play items like proton packs and PKE meters. So pour yourself a tall class of Ecto Cooler and join us!  Follow along at the Ghostbusters wiki: https://ghostbusters.fandom.com/wiki/Kenner_The_Real_Ghostbusters_Toy_Line 

It's time to get rocked with the shell-shocked pizza kings! In our second dive into the world of the Ninja Turtles, we visit the CGI New York City of 2012-2017 and feature one of the longest-running Playmates TMNT lines since the original 1980s series. One of the best iterations of green machine was also paired with a great toyline full of colorful mutants both familiar and new. So put in a pizza order and join us! Booyakasha!  Follow along at the TMNT toys museum: https://tmnttoys.com/figures2012.html