Does it bug anyone else how much Kenner dropped the ball on the T2 line? The Endoskeleton is basically the only genuinely good figure in the whole line. I know it was common practice for companies (especially Kenner) to get creative with the designs, but the sculpt work and gimmicks basically ruin every figure. The Exploding T-1000 and Power Arm Terminator are tolerable but do weird things like making the T-800 sleeveless of the T-1000 half silver. I can understand what they were going for with the T-1000 but it would have made more sense to give him the power arm gimmick and make his alternate arms his various weapons from the movie (or make some up like a giant axe). Even as a kid this stuff bugged the hell out of me and I had no interest in the line beyond the Endoskeleton.It's just such a weird drop in quality given how amazing their Alien and Predator lines turned out.
>>11659556OK who's the guy who ran that pic through an AI enhancer? Those quite aren't at a good level yet. You gotta cut them some slack. Even though the movie was R-rated, the toy line was made for kids. Toy-makers back then always added in "play features" to make toys more playable and appealing for kids.
>>11659556Naah, the only thing they did wrong was not have a good T-1000. The cop one looked weird and the shatter one was a bad figure for doing anything with since it fell apart a lot. What the line should have done is add in some of the big future things like the big flying bot or the rolling tank bot with the laser arms.
>>11659556This is kind of what I mean when I say they knew how to market toys for kids back then. Instead of boring guys in plain ol clothes they gave them missiles and giant robot claw arms and weapons. They should have done this for the Star Wars line in the late 2010s. Everyone is just some bland boring person in beige coveralls. Kids might have bothered if Rose came with a giant taser weapon that shoots sparks. Or if Finn had a trooper jetpack with zipline action.
>>11659579>OK who's the guy who ran that pic through an AI enhancer? Those quite aren't at a good level yet.I did. I wanted a larger image for the OP and used Waifu2x. I selected the lightest post-processing just to remove the jpeg artefacts on the image. It's actually a pretty good upscale IMO, but here's the original for comparison.>Toy-makers back then always added in "play features" to make toys more playable and appealing for kids.The addition of the gimmicks isn't what bothers me, but how they're implemented. Changing out the T-800 arms is a great idea to expand on the bit in the film where he loses an arm, but making him entirely sleeveless? Or the one where they put him in a tank top and his front half pops off to reveal a terrible Endoskeleton underneath with a giant hole in the chest? Here's a better idea, do a screen accurate T-800 that has a spring mechanism that when you press a button causes the arm to snap from the side to being outstretched. You add in a box of roses accessory that you plug into the fist and when the arm snaps up the box flies off to reveal a shotgun underneath?Or a T-1000 that instead of totally exploding like the Scorpion Alien figure they did, instead splits in half? Or one that is a regular 5 POA figure with colour changing paint so when you put it in warm water it turns silver?
>>11659585>Or if Finn had a trooper jetpack with zipline action.The Star Wars line was lousy with ziplines and over-sized cannons for a while there. You're not wrong about designs being boring, but I think the issue runs deeper than that.
>>11659619Kids thought it was cool, and back then an adult toy collector was a rare and sad sight in toy aisles. The market was all about the kids. Better verions were made for adult collectors later on.
>>11659633>Kids thought it was coolSpeaking as someone who was a kid when these came out, no, they sucked. Like I said the Alien and Predator lines were awesome, this specific line just blows chunks. Aside from the Endo, that thing rules and was (and still is) one of my favourite toys. I remember using blu-tak to sculpt an Arnie head on top of the skull and making clothes out of tissue paper and tape so it could tear it all off as he got "damaged."The McFarlane figure was definitely cool, although the gun is way too small and the proportions are wonky. The NECA is better for sculpt, especially the revised version with the better head, even though one of the thigh pistons snapped at the crotch almost immediately.Pre-emptive fuck you to Necanon.
>>11659556I had that Power Arm one, always thought it was weird how it had the Robocop extending spike fist thing. while no Robocop figure had that. Thought it was cool though.
Nah I loved them and they were fun as hell, pic related was my main Terminator and I also used him as Deisel with my wrestling figures.
>>11659787>Diesel
Had that endoskeleton. It was definitely the winner of the line. The eyes lit up from natural light really well. The rubber pistons in his waist were flexible but still held up more than 15 years later, you could see his joints turning in his chest when you move his arms. Real solid stuff.
>>11659873>The rubber pistons in his waist were flexible but still held up more than 15 years laterI have one that actually has a split in the piston and it's still holding on by a couple thing strings of rubber. Incidentally the rubber takes metallica silver Sharpie really well and is a perfect match for the silver on the rest of the figure, so if you have one in rough condition you can touch it up really cheaply.
>>11660114>metallica silver SharpieThey really sold out
>>11660115Hah! What a perfect time for a typo.
>>11659642>I remember using blu-tak to sculpt an Arnie head on top of the skull and making clothes out of tissue paper and tape so it could tear it all off as he got "damaged."Because I was feeling nostaligic I grabbed some Blu-Tak and had a quick go. Not my best sculpting job, I also used to use coloured chalk to add in flesh tones and stuff. Then when it was done I could just stretch out the tak and it would drop all the chalk dust off and be good as new.Take that limited use bio-regenerator powder!
Recently got these 3 ones in a lot with a bunch of Kenner Aliens. I think they're pretty good for what they are. I'm now trying to find an endoskeleton and the bike. I don't think the line failing is on Kenner, though. There just weren't many characters in the movie to turn into toys. Maybe if they had focused on the future soldiers from the intro with odd gimmicks or something.
>>11660300>There just weren't many characters in the movie to turn into toys.I guess that's true, and I know "boys don't buy toys of girls" but they couldn't do at least one Sarah? They did Ripley and Vasquez from Aliens. Maybe a "High explosive Miles Dyson" or "Tech Gear Miles Dyson." Also did they only have the license for T2 specifically? The did T2 3-D, doing Kyle Reese from the first film would have been better than doing a whole bunch of repaints.>I think they're pretty good for what they are.I'm trying to appreciate them for what are, and it's easier to do as an adult, but I just hold Kenner to such a higher standard, and maybe that's unfair. I think it hurts more because we still haven't gotten a decent Terminator toyline since.
What the fuck was Playmates thinking sculpting the upper teeth as a separate piece? It almost totally ruins a pretty decent figure. In fact why do so many companies sculpt the head with the mouth open? Kenner did it, NECA did it initially. It's weird.
>>11659556i always hated that t1000, thought he looked like joe pesci. Power arm t800, john conner, and the skeleton were the best, I didn't stick it out for the better ones, I got deep into crash dummies
>>11660326Back then it probably was a last minute scrapped action feature.
>>11659556T-1000 figure should have had the arm gimmick and come with normal arms, hook arms, blade arms etc. Or maybe he can look normal but turn silver in hot water. Seconding the giant mechs from the future scenes. Those would have been great.
>>11659556I thought they did a decent Arnold, a VERY, VERY decent John Connor w/his motorbike too. The silver Endo was nice, needing a good gun though. Liked the dirty, glow in the dark Endo too. They screwed the pooch on the cop, but still... there were some good figures there. ... ... ...in a bin somewhere, I still have my silver Endo wearing a leather jacket that came from some chinese keychain.
You can always make your own custom if you don't like the vintage figures. Personally I think John Connor is not that bad.
>>11659556Because "some regular guy who's actually a robot" is fucking boring compared to "sci-fi space marines battle weird space bugs with different gimmicks".
I wonder if how many kids painted over the pink turtleneck and gave him sleeves
>>11659556Some were better than others, the pink shirt Arnie was the GOAT of that line, there's just no denying it.I mean, there's not a lot you can do with the movie, considering it makes sense to make the T-800, T-1000 and an endoskeleton, and then they took a lot of liberties with other figures.Kenner always did that with all of their lines. Just look at their Alien, Predator, Ghostbuster, Jurassic Park, etc. lines. Most were not accurate to their movies pretty much at ALL, and the Alien line was based on a scrapped cartoon.Besides, Kenner had a habit of getting about 2 waves in to all of their lines, and by waves 3-4 they went totally off the rails and the figures got crazy. That's how you got the Chaos effect subline in Jurassic Park, the Hive Wars subline in the Alien/Predator lines, etc.Terminator did that as well with the Future Wars later waves, and that's how you got guys like pic related, and that one dude who looked like a reject from the 'Borg from Star Trek who had a giant gold claw, and a number of other crazy figures.
>>11662184I don't get why Kenner didn't use Cameron's concept art for reference. Make a Centurion or Silverfish type things.
>>11659556I miss the era of R rated movies getting toy lines with really random additions like missile launching T-1000.
>>11662465They did similar with the Alien line.
>>11662470Forgot my pic.
>>11662468>I miss the era of R rated movies getting toy linesAs do I. I also miss R-ratings being the norm for action sci-fi.
>>11659619
>>11662477
>>11662477God fucking damn Kenner's card art was god tier in the 90s.
I was always really envious of the playsets they had in 90s toy commercials. I swear, I ever become a millionaire I'm gonna have a whole room that is just these backdrops. Piles of tiny bricks and bare metal soft drink cans everywhere.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew109tRRK7w
I know that Kenner were obviously trying to add more colour into the figures, but why'd they keep making his shirt maroon?
>>11662485
>>11659556you can shut your filthy mouth. I had these and loved them as a kid. Children have totally different expectations of what they want from their toys.>is it that cool movie I'm not allowed to watch yet?>do I recognize the characters?>do they do cool toy stuff?
>>11660322>They did Ripley and Vasquez from AliensAnd it was only released on international markets. I think even the later 2-pack recolor with the alien was a store exclusive and not a wide release.The fact that she's also the only figure to come with a movie accurate pulse rifle makes me believe they were trying really hard to make the figure as appealing as possible, specifically because she was a girl figure.
>>11659619>Or a T-1000 that instead of totally exploding like the Scorpion Alien figure they did, instead splits in half?Honestly the gimmick they gave him works alright, it's certainly better than the other one whose ass turns into a rocket launcher
>>11662861There is an anon here that really cannot grasp that. Somehow ignoring the fact that Kenner was amazingly successful at making incredibly toyetic figures of R rated movies throughout the 90s going back to Robocop in 88. If it didn't work they would have stopped, but they kept going until Hasbro took them over. Clearly kids liked the toys from the movies.
>>11662861Well I'm glad you enjoyed them, sincerely, but I also remember being a kid and hating how hard it was to get screen accurate figures from Kenner a lot of the time. And I know I'm not alone in this.The whole Alien and Predator line was amazing, but it is undeniable that the best figures in the whole series were the AVP two pack, Scorpion Alien, and the Alien Queen hive playset, specifically because they are the most screen accurate figures. Everyone thought that the first Queen Alien they put out was weird. And that it was also annoying that they did a bazillion BTAS Batman variants but the only screen accurate one was a ballache to get. >>11663182>Clearly kids liked the toys from the movies.OP here, I'm not saying kids didn't like the toys from the movies, just the the Terminator line SPECIFICALLY does not match the standard that Kenner set with Alien or Predator. Maybe it was because they were being bought out by Hasbro at the time.
>>11663337It's not up to a line that came years later...That's not really a gotcha.
>>11660322or 'Future' John Connor
>>11663378I'm not trying for a gotcha, I'm just saying that it sucks that the T2 line isn't as good as it could have been. And it sucks even more that 35 years later there STILL hasn't been a truly great Terminator toyline. The Playmates figures were a decent attempt, but hampered by being tied to Salvation specifically and don't even get me started on the disaster that were the ReAction figures. And we'll probably never get a decent line ever because the franchise is in the toilet and toy companies are too pansy to make toys for R-Rated films even though despite a million internet posts saying a variation of "OMG you remember when they made toys for children based on ultra-violent films? Isn't that so whacky?" it never proved to be an actual problem.
>>11659556I had a friend who had a few of the T2 figures and I always thought even as a kid why they didn't look like the characters from the film. The only one that realistically portrayed the characters from the film was the endoskeleton. I was able to acquire all the figures from the future war since Kay-Bee toys was selling them at a huge discount. And I thought that line was so strange in that why didn't they just make a future war line with the human resistance as the good guys instead of the terminators and the bad guys as the cyborgs.
>>11663337>just the the Terminator line SPECIFICALLY does not match the standard that Kenner set with Alien or PredatorI think it's an issue with the Terminator brand just not translating well to toys.Alien and Predator both have a large principal cast, the comic books further established that the aliens take after their hosts so the notion of all these crazy alien variants wasn't too far fetched, predators all had unique looks so you could go pretty crazy with them as well, and you had enough marines you could do all of them as one an done deal.Terminator in the other hand has Arnie, the T-1000, Sarah and John...and that's it. While they could and should have done at least one Sarah Connor figure, they still had to go out on a limb to pad out a toyline that was clearly still doing well at the toy shelves to make a followup line with Future War and they really had to use their imaginations for that one, and even then half of it was just redecos which is probably what killed it.>>11663583>And I thought that line was so strange in that why didn't they just make a future war line with the human resistance as the good guysThat's honestly a good point, they didn't even make an adult John Connor to fight them.
>>11663843>Alien and Predator both have a large principal cast, the comic books further established that the aliens take after their hosts so the notion of all these crazy alien variants wasn't too far fetched, predators all had unique looks so you could go pretty crazy with them as well, and you had enough marines you could do all of them as one an done deal.Again, the Alien line was based off of a scrapped Aliens cartoon. As much as we're talking about all the weird Arnold variants and stuff, even I wondered as a kid why the Colonial Marines didn't look anything like they did in the movies, barring the Hicks figure. Some of them were way off, like Bishop being a bald guy with sunglasses, but the Aliens and Predators were easy for them to make whatever they wanted.I think it helped that even though the cartoon was cancelled, all of those figures came with mini comic books. But even without them, in the comics and even in Alien 3, the the Xenos took attributes from the hosts, so it wasn't even a crazy concept anyway.
>>11663085Ripley and Vasquez were part of the regular, original line. You're probably thinking of the Alien: Resurrection Ripley.
>>11663855>scrapped Aliens cartoonThere's no basis for this actually being a thing; for all we know the animated short was only made as an industry promo for the toyline, sort of like that really early Filmation short promoting MOTU, which is why it has never surfaced to the public outside of the same old screencaps.Considering most of the marines died in the movie anyway and we got a couple who didn't appear in them at all like O'Malley, it's much easier to just assume the toyline takes place in a different continuity which makes the different looks a bit easier to swallow. Hudson and Drake also held onto the "marine" aesthetic a bit closer, even if it wasn't the movie one.>>11663878More like I only read "Vasquez" and missed the Ripley part.
>>11663880>Considering most of the marines died in the movie anyway and we got a couple who didn't appear in them at all like O'Malley, it's much easier to just assume the toyline takes place in a different continuity which makes the different looks a bit easier to swallow. Hudson and Drake also held onto the "marine" aesthetic a bit closer, even if it wasn't the movie one.Well, mostly what I was trying to point out was that it was easier to suspend disbelief with the Alien line with it not being not necessarily tied to the movie(s), because the idea behind their weird offshoot forms was explained in the Dark Horse comics and even in Alien 3 sort of. The (mostly) inconsistent look for the marines was kind of hand-waved with the pack in mini comics. With the Terminator figures, it was harder to explain away all these weird figures, even though I frankly didn't care because I thought most of the figures were pretty cool, even though there wasn't even an attempt to explain all the strange designs.
>>11660144You know even for a slap dash mock up this is an amazing proof of concept. Lightpiping really should have been standard across all T800's in the collection.
>>11660326All these years later I still feel as though kenner was the only company to do the endo any justice. Everything that follows either feels too finnicky or fragile. The design needs to be simplified somewhat to make for a good toy.
>>11660458>Seconding the giant mechs from the future scenes. Those would have been great.The Salvation line featured a Harvester. Probably one of the better inclusions in that whole series. Really is a shame everything went to shit behind the scenes, Bale as Connor just fit perfectly but was painfully underutilized.>>11661467Hell Yeah! I love your customs man.
>>11662465Considering Kenner's hand in Centurions they could have even borrowed alotof gimmick ideas from there. Imagine a whole range of modular Endos and Skynet hunter killers. The Future War setting in general is painfully overlooked in both the toy and film department. The version of future John that appears in the first film would make for an awesome toy.
>>11662468The closest we have nowadays is avatar, but cameron is so keen on portraying the military as the villains that they're largely an after thought in the toylines. It's frankly a miracle we got the mech suits.
>>11662505This has been one of the best threads on the board in a long time so forgive me for spamming with replies, but man what I wouldnt give to see somebody shrink this guy down to the scale of the other figures. This sculpt was just the perfect compromise of the source material and 90's toy appeal.
>>11663337I see alot of guys discuss as much but I always wonder what the ideal ratio of screen accurate depictions to wacky original designs should be. There's always demand for both imo. Fans love repaints at the end of the day, but ultimately you need a standard release on shelves to satisfy everybody.
>>11662468haha it was kind of weird thinking back on it... like these movies were R rated (Terminator, Alien, Robocop etc) but it was us kids who consumed and talked about them at recess, with your buddies at home and ultimately got the toys to play with.
>>11664003I think a lot of them had the gap bridged between the R movies and kids by having comics and video games that could still kind of be violent and maybe even bloody, but it it softened the blow by having them be kind of colorful and cartoonish in return.
>>11663880>There's no basis for this actually being a thingNah, there is documentation for Operation Aliens being a cartoon along with other merchandise. It just got cancelled before they started making the cartoon and rebranded all the merchandise. The mini-comics were all based on planned episodes if I recall correctly.
>>11663843Imagine if they built an aerial HK, ground HK and a resistance truck as the vehicles? Man that would have been awesome.
>>11664181Where is this alleged documentation? Why do we have screenshot of the animated promo but the actual video is nowhere to be seen?
>>11663843>I think it's an issue with the Terminator brand just not translating well to toys.I think the brand translates well, just not the movies specifically. I think Kenner had the right idea introducing the Future War subline, but again the execution was off. Designs like Rapid Repair Terminator and Cyber Grip Villain are cool, but Kromium is fucking stupid. I think the real problem is lack of heroes (a problem for the Predator line too, which I think is why they tried to position them as the good guys against the Aliens being villains). You can only do variants on Arnie so many times. Imagine if they'd taken inspiration from the future war sequences in the first movie more. That gets you vehicles that make sense (rather than the weird convertible they did), you could do a "Evil Infiltrator Terminator" which has a two part shell that looks like a scruffy dude wearing a big cloak, which you open up and it's a Terminator with a mini-gun underneath (like Franco Columbo's scene in the first movie) and heroic resistance fighters. Even do a line wide gimmick where there's a bunch of hero characters but maybe they do a chase variant that has light-piping that when you take off his hat reveals he's actually a Terminator.
>>11663878I had all the aliens, marines, and vehicles with the exception of the OG Hudson, Vasquez and O'Malley. I think I finally got those from Kay-Bee Toys and they were a special edition that were packaged with an alien and both were in a different paint scheme.
>>11664193They had a line called "FUTURE WAR" and didn't do thisKenner really dropped the ball there
>>11663973>but man what I wouldnt give to see somebody shrink this guy down to the scale of the other figures.I'm amazed they never did that.Toybiz did something similar with one of their Spider-Man figures and then the big vinyl figure. But maybe they were able to use scanning for prototyping that Kenner didn't have access to back in the 90s. Still considering how close the Power Arm Terminator is in terms of design, all they needed to do was include sculpted sleeves on the figure and it would have basically been perfect. They could have even kept the same gimmick. Maybe they thought the toys would be more appealing if they showed off Arnie's muscular arms.
>>11664194>Why do we have screenshot of the animated promo but the actual video is nowhere to be seen?Secret Galaxy did a good video on the topic. But the basic gist is that the image that people share around as stills from the alleged pilot episode, are actually stills from a series of animated commercials that were to be produced for the toyline, animated by AKOM. Most likely as a way of introducing not only the toys, but the animated incarnations of the characters for kids to become familiar with before the series would premiere. But eventually the idea to do a full animated series was dropped before production started because Fox didn't think that a cartoon series could work under new legislation and they had other ideas for the brand, so they bailed.Kenner cancelled the release of the animated commercials, dropped the "Operation Aliens" branding in favour of just the standard "Aliens" logo and shot new commercials with live-action actors. Plenty of merchandise for the original Operation Aliens version still exists with the above pictured board game, digital watches, a carry case, pencil cases, stationary sets, even a bed-spread I think, but that's all that came of it.
>>11663878>>11664199I think they're talking about the Aliens vs Marine two-packs that came out late in the line. The series consisted of two-packs featuring one previously released Alien and Marine figure in new, more screen accurate, deco. Aliens cast in black plastic with silver highlights, marines in military green. Ripley was not part of the line nor was Apone apparently. Vasquez was the only figure in the whole line that featured a screen accurate M41A Pulse Rifle and was actually very difficult to find in the US during her original figure run. The two-pack version of Vasquez was more available.
>>11664230Yeah that's it! Now I remember I had Hicks, Drake, Hudson, and maybe O'Malley. I always liked these marine designs since they were more realistic then the earlier ones. You could buy quite a bit of stuff at Kay-Bee Toys when they marked them down.
>>11664201Indeed. Aerial HK, Ground HK, the never shown HK Centurion and Resistance truck and car as the vehicles. The truck would be the ones based on T2 and the car would be the one used in T1. They could have John Conner and Kyle Reese along with a few resistance soldiers as the heroes. Then you can have three different types of endoskeletons with a gold one from the arcade game, a regular one and one that "explodes" by pushing a button. Could have the T-600 and T-800 infiltrators too. And then you can have the silverfish and pods\probes from the arcade game. Maybe have a Skynet base as a playset with the Skynet from the arcade game as part of the set.
>>11662470The Congo movie too. I remember the local toy stores selling them at a steep discount.
>>11664270See there is perfect re-use there for generic "future soldiers." Just colour everything is greyish blues and you're good. Best part is, they don't even really have to match because it can all just be survivors scrounging for clothing in the ruins anyway. Maybe they make some harness that you strap on to the figure that have that zig-zag stitched material that looks like a floor mat that the soldiers all have on their jack shoulders and paint/sculpt a red bandana on the upper arm and there, instant resistance soldier figure.
>>11664265>pods\probes from the arcade game.As much as I hated those little bastards in the Arcade game, I love that they brought them back, and the CPU 9000 (as the CPU 7000) in Terminator 2D. Short as that game is god DAMN does it know the franchise.Also Kenner could do things like the Terminator dogs from Robocop vs The Terminator and stuff like that.
>>11664317Ok that's really kino. If you like Terminator you should, if you haven't yet, try the Terminator Resistance game. Probably the best, well maybe not now with the new 2D game, since the days of Terminator Future Shock and Skynet
>>11664347>try the Terminator Resistance game.Actually almost finished with my second playthrough since it came out right now. Only downside is I have it on PS4 so I can't get any of the DLC. It and Robocop Rogue City are the only reasons I would want to get a PS5 but that seems like a ridiculous investment for just two games. Maybe I finally make a Steam account.
>Wanting fun screen-accurate Terminator toys you can actually play with in 2026
>>11664215The fact they didnt just release a version with sleeves, especially considering the modular arm gimmick, will forever baffle me. Could have headlined an entire wave with just that variant! Likewise I'm still thinking over that Centurions idea.
>>11664270There's alot of parts reuse in this period of Kenner. Karen is 90% Ripley for instance. I'm surprised they didnt try to get more use out of JP and Waterworld molds for Congo. Since >>11664304 mentioned Future War soldier fodder, there whole Congo line's full of them. You could just pull some heads from the Robin Hood and GI Joe Extreme lines for some variety.
>>11664567Take the pants off one of the dudes and put them on the shorts guy so he has full pants. Sculpt new arms for everyone to have them in jackets. Do an overlay to look like zigzag shoulder pad, cast them all in blue and grey plastic and you're done.
Turok would had worked so well with Kenner. Playmates had the IP and made just a few figures during Turok 2
>>11664304Kenner probably would've wanted to add more color to the character roster and I'm pretty sure everyone's clothes just look greyish blue because of the lighting, but the part about salvaging clothes is a pretty interesting idea, you could have them wear random colored shit and it'd make sense.
So Kenner general? Here's my Aliens display. Working on a Terminator one, but it's a bitch to find those figuers opened in good shape for some reason.
>>11665862>Only one LanardUh, are you some sort of homosexual?
>>11664562Ugh, just take the gimmick and slap it on some 4 inch figures.
>>11665862>So Kenner general?Sure, as much as I have issues with the T2 line as I mentioned in the OP, I only have those issues because of how much I love Kenner. Kenner toys basically defined my childhood. Aliens, Predator, Star Wars, the Total Justice figures and other DC lines, hell even the Beast Wars figures were farmed out to Kenner when Hasbro bought them. I still remember getting the little booklets and going through all the other toylines I never saw on shelves (took me literal decades to get those fucking figures from The Shadow and I'm still hunting). I think Hasbro buying Kenner and hollowing them out into just a logo they can slap on Star Wars figures for nostalgia bucks is one of the great travesties of the toy world. And it's not even like it was Kenner's fault, they got bought by Tonka and when Tonka started failing it got eaten by Hasbro, and Kenner was just collateral damage.
>>11666067>And it's not even like it was Kenner's fault, they got bought by Tonka and when Tonka started failing it got eaten by Hasbro, and Kenner was just collateral damage.Kenner, at the time of Star Wars, was owned by General Mills, which was highly diversified at the time (they also owned what is now known as Darden). At some point, they started spinning off the companies, so Kenner and Parker Bros. got packaged together as Kenner Parker Toys, which lasted two years before it got bought by Tonka. The restaurant division was spun off as Darden a decade later.
>>11666278>Kenner, at the time of Star WarsNo, I mean Star Wars now. All the vintage collection Star Wars figures have the Kenner branding on it, Hasbro makes the figures, they just slap the logo on there purely for nostalgia factor.
>>11666067Man I remember those booklets. Good times.
I havent had a chance to sit down and draw anything for the the thread, but since some anons mentioned opening up the thread to other Kenner lines I figured this older doodle could tide things over. It still surprises me neither Kenner or Hasbro went all in on the goofy gimmicky variants with SW. Especially with all the trooper and droid variants that sold over the years.
>>11668402Now, this is cool! Reminds me of the Lego Gingerbread Darth Vader
>>11659556The company is dead. Why care?
>>11668578I heard about that set. It looked really fun, but at this point LEGO seems like such a rabbit hole. If I grab one set I just know I'll eyeball another before things snowball out of control lol.
>>11659556Kenner would wild hairs up their ass to eventually ruin every line wirh gimmicks.Just look at each wave of ghostbusters figures
>>11664617Went ahead and cooked up some rough ideas based off part swaps. I figured they would have repeated the success they saw with the Robin Hood line. So these three are a mix of parts from Alan Grant, Dennis Nedry, Monroe, and Peter Elliot with place holder heads. I figured Monroe would make for rhe best Kyle Reese base.
>>11668614Understandabel.
>>11668690These would be a perfect Kyle Reese and John Connor.Man I wish I was rich enough to set up a proper toy manufacturing set up in my garage. Proper extruded plastic pushed into moulds, industrial durable paints. It'd be so good.
>>11668825I was just as tempted by the Dark Falcon honestly. I wish the hasbro stuff had that much fun put into it.>>11668953I'm glad to hear you think so! I was tempted to do a mock up with parts off Waterworld figures, but the JP/Congo parts mix proved so efficient I felt it wasnt necessary.As far as a DIY toy factory set up goes, we're at a point now where even conventional moulds arent necessary. People are buying and using 3D scanners to their fullest extent these days. There are so many vintage figures you can just download scans of and print now, it's crazy. If you get either of those items you could very well start by downscaling the ultimate T-800 and work from there.FWIW I've drawn a few ideas down with the intent to use that tech someday to realize them. I really want to make vintage secret wars figs, got a dozen ideas burning a hole in my head lol.Related, I really want to take some cues from Centurions for a Future War wave but I'm not sure how. Modular T-800's is a given, but should the various hunter killers and various tank bots be depicted as they are in the film or embelished for the sake of integrating some Centurions gimmicks. Likewise I've been thinking, both the Aliens and Robocop lines had alot of great vehicles for Terminator to borrow. I could see that Robocop van being repurposed as some sort of skynet human catcher.
Skynet tech could have been depicted as a dark metallic cobalt blue with pinkish-purple highlights. It's not hard to imagine what the robo-jailer would look like in those colors. Likewise, in pouring over the Robocop line, I'm wondering if a Batman crossover should be acommodated. It wouldnt have happened back in the day but considering they had the rights to both IPs and how great that one fan film was, it feels merited. Maybe one of the dozens of BTAS molds done up in future war fatigue colors? Just spitballing now.
Alot of mid-sixed vehicles like this could have really shone in the terminator line. Just pair this thing with an Endoskeleton and it would have sold like hot cakes. Aliens has a few donor vehicles that could have worked the same.
Last bit of this tangent for now, but as far as easy customs go I'm surprised nobody's ever fiddled with a Mattel Jack Slater to get a plain clothes T-800 going. It's more or less the exact get up in brighter colors, he's just missing the boots and the shades. Ofcourse he'd benefit from a hand transplant too.
>>11668999>There are so many vintage figures you can just download scans of and print nowThese are absolutely great for most people and I fully support anyone that goes that route, but there is something about the specific tactile nature of plastic that I need to be satisfied with a figure, I've even had the occasional experience with official figures that I was extremely excited for and then immediately lost interest in purely because the plastic just felt wrong. It's my own 'tism cross to bear I guess.That said I wouldn't be surprised if we get PVC printers in the near future.
>>11669089I get it, I know alot of people feel similarly over vintage reissues. There's always going to be some barrier there. Despite that I cant help but celebrate the tech. It's amazing that we're come this far in just 2 decades. The future is truly DIY.
>>11669098>The future is truly DIY.I'm honestly surprised Hasbro isn't trying to push this as a way of off-loading the manufacturing cost onto the customer. "Pay $45 dollars for a license and print your own figure!"
>>11669101The people running hasbro now are greedy, that much is self evident, what irks me is how stupid they are. Greed is one thing, stupidity is another, and they dont mix well. If tne rumors of them dumping their archives are to be believed then they pretty much ditched a few easy millions for nothing.
I was thinking Sarah Connor could be easily pieced together from the Ripley/Karen Ross torso + JP Ellie Sattler arms. The only new component needed would be the head. I figured you could go with the shades look.
Addendum to the batman idea from earlier. Just toss in this guy!
Genned these rough approximations based off my suggestions here >>11668999
>>11669018this is a good idea anon.
>>11670422Thanks man. I'm pretty sure Kenner John Connor would scale with him. Might even fit the Kenner bike better if I had to guess.
>>11664567I had a couple Congo apes. They were really cool standouts in my collection. Put em with the red ape guy from Primal Rage fighting video game toyline. Didn't think much of the movie which I saw in theater but the toy apes were neat. Top left ape was a favorite. I probably have it somewhere. A downright frightening ape, when you think about it. Laura Linney should have showed off her body in Congo. That movie had no balls, end of the day. I do however fondly remember the ghastly and ghoulish apes.
>>11668999do you think they can be scaled? like put all marvel, dc, playmates, mattel, kenner and hasbro figs together?
>>11670540Some figures scale better than others. You'd be able to pair alot of later Kenner releases with 90's Toybiz figures atleast. Batman, Super Powers, Robocop, and a few others would be pretty undersized though. Not to mention most TMNT figures would abe total manlets by comparison. I took this pic late last year for some art reference. It's worth noting how much taller mcfarlane Super Powers can be cokpared to vintage Kenner on average.
>>11670489The apes were the highlight of the congo line. Using them as minions for the Primal Rage gorilla was pretty inspired on your part.>That movie had no balls, end of the day. I do however fondly remember the ghastly and ghoulish apes.I think that and the sesame cake line are the only things most people remember from the film. I still cant get over Campbell being cast only to become mincemeat moments later. Toothless is a very good descriptor of the film. It really does feel like the Mighty Joe Young to JP's King Kong.
>>11670418I dig it, anon.Just for the hell of it I did a rough packaging mock up, added some different livery, and added some more accurate details to the Terminators.
>>11671063Holy shit man I love it! You even tweaked the colors on the van along with adding the Skynet logo. I fought with the AI about a dozen times to get those details right only to end up out of tokens. The accurate endos add alot too.The question I'm asking myself now is what's next?
>>11671171>You even tweaked the colors on the vanI actually didn't. I just changed the logos. Probably a case of confetti illusion because I added a background. Though I might try doing some more tweaking now that some ideas have occurred to me.
>>11671239>confetti illusionNow that you mention it that my be it. Either way I loved it. Cant thank you enough for it. >Though I might try doing some more tweaking now that some ideas have occurred to meDude yes. PLEASE go nuts. I might aswell mention some other kenner items I was thinking could have fit in the T2 collection.>Robo-copter>Sprinthawk>Batman Ice Hammer (could serve as a human resistance vehicle)>Centurions Doom Drone Traumatizer>VR Pursuit Jet
>>11671323I pushed some details more into the red, I also changed the headlights because I thought that making the stickers look like Terminator eyes is the kind of silly 90s thing a toy company would do.
>>11671366Dude you just keep nailing it. Keep up the incredible work. At this point my only request is that the rest of the van's body match the tone of blue on the front of the car. But even as is its perfect
>>11671392>the rest of the van's body match the tone of blue on the front of the car.Tried my best. Honestly if I were more capable I'd love to turn the front bumper in to some teeth like the mouth of Terminator, because it was so common for vehicles at the time to just be the character as a vehicle.
>>11664270After skimming thru this thread a bit i wanna say how pleasentlt surprised i was when i finally saw congo after around 20 years of being told its an awful fucking movie. Its a solid and fun adventure film and the zinj apes are so cool>>11668402God damn i wish i cluld draw as well as you do. All i can do is really weird scribbles of monsters and aliens and robots
>>11671479YES! That's PERFECT anon. Oh man you've really made it shine now. I know what you're getting at with the teeth but I feel like adding anything else at this point would risk ruining it. Kudos for stretching the black bar down the side of the van too. It just brought everything together perfectly.
>>11671481It's a good watch. Movies like Congo are what I've come to consider "sunday movies". The sort of thing you dont seek out, but if it comes on, why not watch it y'know? Much like Burton's POTA, Congo's monkey effects make the whole thing worth the watch. There's some decent acting in there too.Glad you liked my art. I'm definitely tempted to contribute more to the thread but I havent thought of anything yet. The AI gens sort of did the job for me!
I was scouring ebay for a bit in the hopes of getting an idea of how the old Robocop figs scale with their Terminators. Found a Terminator lot with some Last Action Hero mixed in. Surprisingly the Mattel figs are a little shorter than Kenner's. Not by much, just a hair, but it makes Jack Slater scale all the better with Kenner's John Connor.
Also made me realized what an undersung variant the Battle Ready Terminator was. The gimmick's a little messy but just going off looks alone, what a perfect figure.
The dual cockpit on the Robo-copter makes me think it'd make for an ideal resistance aircraft. I suppose alot of the Congo/JP/Aliens vehicles would work well for ground troops.
>>11671553>stretching the black bar down the side of the van tooYeah, once the main body was dark blue the stripe looked weird and I figured making it black was more fitting.
>>11671579What sucks is that I KNOW there are Terminator and Jack Slater figures rotting in landfills right now because some dumb kid snapped the arm off or some dipshit parents decided that the kid was too old for toys and just threw them in the trash (knew a woman who routinely just threw out kid's old toys) because they were too lazy to donate them or give them away.I would love to take some old beater figures that are already broken and use them for customs. I'm sure you could attach the leather jacket arms off the Jack Slater onto the Power Arm Terminator and it wouldn't look too out of scale. Just dye the plastic black and it would be great.
>>11672018Oh man I hate thinking about stuff like that. God knows how many good toys were sent to meet their demise in some unmarked mass grave surrounded by broken bottles and spoiled cabbages. I really wish we could make a bigger habit of donating old toys. Maybe that's changed for the better nowadays. Just a quick glance over FB marketplace gives me that feeling anyways.>I would love to take some old beater figures that are already broken and use them for customs. I'm sure you could attach the leather jacket arms off the Jack Slater onto the Power Arm Terminator and it wouldn't look too out of scale. Just dye the plastic black and it would be great.Honestly you'd be surprised how many beaters populate Ebay these days. I came across pic related the other night. Poor bastard doesnt even have a head anymore. Seems like the ideal candidate for a Slater partswap. Even as far as your arm idea goes, I was thinking of drawing some rough mock ups for sleeved arms incase anyone ITT was experienced with 3D modelling enough to make such additions a reality. In T2, Arnie spends most of the run time wearing gloves. You wouldnt even have to paint the hands! All you'd have to ensure is that you got the arm pegs right.
>>11672013Great instinct! As of now Im stuck on colors for the Robo-copter. Full black seems bland, all silver seems no less flashy. I guess it could come with a bunch of new stickers to liven things up? Alot of the human resistance iconography didnt come about until salvation.
What's the most underrated Kenner line? My picks are Batman Beyond and Small Soldiers.
>>11671553>I know what you're getting at with the teethSpeaking of toy companies/Skynet stick Terminator faces on everything.
>>11672564You're not wrong, even considering that Coupe kenner included in the T2 line, but I like keeping things simple for now. Since you've mentioned it though, I'll never understand how or why kenner didnt make a line based off the Robocop vs Terminator comic. That book got two video games and tv commercials! They could have made a mint.
>>11672952>why kenner didnt make a line based off the Robocop vs Terminator comicThey probably only had a limited license which allowed them to only make toys for Terminator 2. They stretched it with T2-3D and Terminator 2 Future War.Still it would have been awesome, I loved that game as a kid. I always liked the way Robocop looked in the game, like really solid. Also hot Terminator babes in skin tight outfits. Fuck I miss the 90s.
>>11673146Speaking of T2 3D, can you believe they still had kenner product onnsale up until the shut down of the ride circa 2010? I never got to ride it myself but I did step into the gift shop and Im still baffled by the wall of Kenner Endos that lined those shelves. I wonder if they were just being continuously produced by hasbro or if universal just had that many left over from the 90s. The most lamentable aspect of Kenner passing up the comic is that we never got a decently sized Robocop to pair with the T800. The Robocop figures are nearly 2 heads shorter than the Terminators.
This thing really was the silliest addition to any movie toyline of the 90's. Even the motorcycle with the giant " T" on the side feels more realistic by comparison.
Thought of this earlier
>>11674476Is this AI? Where is that head from?
>>11674611The head is AI. I kept trying to get the program to overlay the rapid repair terminator's head onto that body but it wasnt complying. So I just aimed for "plastic arnold schwarzenegger" head instead. My idea being you could sell this as a future war version of the T800 that had been reprogrammed by human resistance fighters.
Scaling issues, the greatest villain of 90s playtime.
>>11675713My god the sculpts on both of them are so perfect too. Really leaves one to wonder how they would have been received as smaller figures. Unfortunately the Kenner Robocop line doesnt scale well with their Terminator figs. I suspect the Toy Island releases may fare better but I dont know for certain.
>>11675939>the sculpts on both of them are so perfectIt bugs me that vinyl rotocast figures aren't common anymore. They were all so awesome.
>>11676310The closest we get anymore are playmates reissues of bandai vinyls. It blows. I understand trends come and go, but some toys just leave such an impact that it's almost criminal not to consider them staples. The MOTU 5.5. format, Secret Wars, and those Rotocast figures are all great examples of this. Especially when you compare them against these awful shampoo bottle toys glutting the market now.
>>11676335What's wild is how far they were coming with the articulation by the mid 00s (though I prefer less articulation personally), now all we get are those fucking Titan Hero things that are all way too skinny, posed like they have a pole up their butts, and are all the same fucking size. Wolverine should not be the same fucking height as Hulk.
