The Ancient Bowels of My Photobucket

I don't think my photobucket is private, so you could technically do this yourself....but trust me.  It's HUGE.  There's 107 pages alone in the original folder (before I started breaking them up into themes) and I started it back in 2004.  So - as more filler while I continue to work - I figured I'd take you on a tour of some really old junk!

The top pic is of the MSiA Gundam fighting a Zaku II on the desk in my room at my parent's house.  I added in some glowing eyes in paint, which means I haven't upgraded from the paint program in TEN YEARS.  Someday I'll sit down and try to learn something else, so I can find out how many of my procedures could be way easier than how I've been doing them.

I can't remember what camera I was using back then, but I'll bet it had to be connected via cable and probably had to go through some stupid program to get the pictures out.  It was annoying back then!  Or, I just had a junky camera.

Oh man, the computer table at my parent's!  So many memories.  AOL chat rooms and the "world" of Rhy'Din (where everyone was perfect, save for their tragic pasts), the new idea of these "web comics", emulators, etc.  Also the place where I sometimes took pics of toys?

This is the Hobgoblin, from Spider-Man.  Can't remember what toyline (possibly Spider-Man classics?).  He's still a favorite of mine, and I was so smitten with 'em that I had to take some pictures (for one of my earliest ideas of a review).  This seriously feels like someone else took these pics!  I keep thinking the 2000's are all the "current" years, but I've come a long way since these were taken.  That computer in the pic is long since fried, I've figured out the wonders of lighting (sorta), I can do...more things in paint, I guess.

Man, if I analyze this any more I'll find out that nothing has changed, so lets move on.

HOOO MAA GAAAWWWD, Sigma 6!  You guys, I swear I'll do a post on Sigma 6 at some point.  I still have everything I collected from that time, so it should be a good series.  For now, here are some pics from my old obsession.

And my wife's.  There's a 3rd generation pony there, before it became Friendship is Magic.  They actually came up with a lot of neat paint designs for those old ponies, but they sorta killed it to focus on major characters (which worked out once they finally made a show that everyone could enjoy).

This was taken at my mother in law's house which, back then, was one of two places my wife (then girlfriend) and I would be found living.  Sigma 6 spend a lot of time between there and my parent's (and now the line spends it's time in bins in my toy room).  The figure is SIGMA STRIKE DUKE!  Big, bad, armored, and sporting a BFG with multiple attachments.  The one above is my fave: some sorta long rifle.

There's a saw, a flamethrower, and some big pulse cannon.  I love them all!  The figure is really cool, though the backpack sometimes has a hard time staying on.  These pictures would have originally been posted on Joebattlelines' Sigma 6 forum, but that's long gone.  Now some of them will rest here!

One thing I loved about Sigma 6 was the modular holes in them and how most of the items could work with each other.

So I did stuff like mix Destro with the coat from a figure named Long Range.  And placed him on top of a Spongebob placemat, because.  Because?  I guess that passed for a background, at the time.  Good times!  Ugly backgrounds.

Oh man, the combinations were endless!  It was a perfect match of cloth items and accessories without being as huge as a 12 inch figure.  Also: I just loved the style!

Look at that!  Just awesome.  You know, save for the thing he's saying.  You don't get the animated style combined with great articulation very often.  It was a huge change in size and style for G.I. Joe, but I still think it was a major milestone that shouldn't be marked by "that weird thing they did once."

The awesome guy with the pipes coming off his helmet is the Iron Grenadier for Sigma 6.  He's one of those things that makes me realize that no nostalgia exists for this within Hasbro, so we would probably never see this design again.  Which sucks!  'Cause it's awesome.  "Nostalgia" is officially defined as anything coming from the 80's, though, so we either won't see this for a very long time, or it'll fall to the wayside entirely.  Then again...the G.I. Joe Collector's club IS recreating some 90's figures in their exclusive line, so who knows?  Maybe someone will take another look at some of these designs sooner rather than later.

Oh, Kung-Fu Grip.  Bah.  They added that in near the end of Sigma 6 to...I dunno, keep the interest alive?  The only thing the Kung-Fu Grip added was a hand that was less-able to hold things than the regular hands.  It was spring-loaded, so it was supposed to clamp shut around what the figure was holding, but it just meant that, if you wanted to move the figure around, anything in that hand would fall out.  Kinda ruined some great figures near the end, there.

Ho ho, the death of Sigma 6!  Along came the 25th Anniversary line in it's stead....which, in retrospect, wasn't that great.  They were trying new things, so you had to give them some slack, but the ideas they concocted have been improved upon ten-fold since then.  It's too bad Sigma 6 just had to bite the bullet for it to exist, though.  You could easily reformat Sigma 6 into anything and I think it would be just as awesome today, whereas if you continued using the mechanics of a 25th Anniversary figure, you'd noticed how ugly it was now.

I took this pic because I had been looking for the Cobra pack like MAD, and finally found it.  I grabbed all my various Cobra Commanders (and a few others) and took this crazy photo to celebrate.  Nearly all the figures in the pack are obsolete, now.

Hey, something else I should do a full post on: Xevoz!  If you don't know about Xevoz, then you missed out on...well, the blink of an eye, really.  It's a shame.  This line is all STYLE.  Style, mixing parts, and some sorta game that I didn't bother to try and play.  It's really a side thing compared to the majesty of this toyline.

That's just one of my creations, Steampunk Panther.  Armor from the electric guy, guns from the cowboy, and a back part from this badass robot figure.  The creators made....ah man, just everything.  Elementals, animal people, robots, humans, cyborgs, superheroes, demons, ninjas, you name it.  This should have been a never ending toyline, honestly.  There were no limits on figures, and beyond infinity for potential swaps.

You'll see the multitudes of items when I do a full post on these.  If you're already interested, then go for it!  Look 'em up on ebay or something and buy some.  Do it.  NOW.  GO.

Whoops, more Sigma 6.  Guess what was on my brain, back then?  Also, I'm going in order of what I find in the Photobucket.

OKAY OKAY, moving on again!

The third Spider-Man movie did some strange 5 inch figures that didn't match anything they'd done before, except for maybe figures from the 90's.  Regardless of having nothing to use them with....they were pretty neat!  This guy is The Scorpion, from the video game (I think?).

He's still a favorite figure of mine, and stands as one of those guys that works across toylines.  He'd probably make it into an all-time favorites list, if I ever did one.

EAGH, terrible photo of some cool figures!  I'll have to cover these two, at some point.  This is Proto Man and Bass from Mega Man Battle Network.  They're from a Japanese toyline with interchangeable arms and lots of articulation.  They were fantastic, save for one fault: Just about every one of them didn't stand the test of time.  They had been sitting in a bin for awhile, not being used, then I pulled out a few and found out the joints just...fell apart.  Proto Man and Bass are the only ones that didn't break, for some reason.  All the Mega Men that I bought are falling apart at the knees and elbows.

No idea why, but these figures were SO awesome!  It's still a big disappointment to me.  At least Proto Man and Bass are still going strong, because they are arguably the coolest of the bunch.

SIGMA 6 AGAIN.  Near the end of the line, we got this crazy Yakuza Storm Shadow.  I guess it's like he's a part of a motorcycle gang?  I actually liked the colors and considered him another character.  Plus, he came with some cool stuff.

Ugh, the beginning of me buying vehicles.  SO MANY.  The bottom most shelf in my toy room is taken up by one giant tub full of Joe vehicles from the 25th line (and beyond).  I went crazy with it because I had so few vehicles, back in the day.  I still love a lot of them, but I think I've moved beyond them now.  Need to cull the herd, at some point.

The early days, when that was my only Techno-Viper!  I had taken apart my lone HISS II (the only vehicle I had back in the day) to clean it.  Thing was dusty, and had been in a flood.

I love that thing.

Hey, I did some MSiA reviews in 2008!  Forgot about that.  This is the Turn A Gundam, which showed up in another post, technically.  The Robot Spirits version did, anyway.  This is my old original MSiA version, which honestly isn't that bad of a figure, even today.

I'd actually like to hit some of my MSiA collection on here, sometime.  There were quite a few fantastic toys that hold up by today's standards.  Some of which I'd say are even better than some new ones!  Plus, it was a long running toyline, so it covers a lot of different Gundam items from various years and universes.  

The arrival of the 25th B.A.T., or Battle Android Trooper.  G.I. Joe's own robotic trooper that I absolutely love, as you can see.  That's all the B.A.T.s I own greeting the new guy.  Heck, I think that might be ALL the B.A.T.S.!  Pretty sure I had them all, at that point.  I've missed a few now, but they're part of the Collector's Club exclusives, and I haven't determined if they're worth it yet, for the price.

The Ghostbuster House!  You've seen the walls of this in the background of some TMNT reviews (and maybe some others).  I will never get rid of this.  Too useful.  

Yeesh, these were so fuzzy back then!  I can't remember why I took these.  Probably just wanted to set up a little scene using the house.  

I still would like to use the whole building in a shot, but it's tough.  So big!  If I could rig some sorta background that looked like a city, I think I could pull it off.  Who knows?

Alright, I think that's it for now.  We've covered a good section that will lead into Alexx Shorts soon enough, though there's some other old junk that might make a good sequel to this.  Hope you enjoyed some ugly old pics and late-night ramblings!  Back to editing for me...