ToyFare

9 files

1. 

   ToyFare 001 (September 1997)

   By kitsunebi

   1st monthly issue
   

   149 downloads

   0 comments

   Submitted January 4, 2024

2. 

   ToyFare 002 (October 1997)

   By kitsunebi

   Scanning English-language gaming mags is getting dangerous around here.  No matter how good your scan is, it might get refused if someone else already made plans to release it later.  Luckily, I don't think anyone else has plans to release Japanese mags, so I can stick to those I guess. 
   And non-gaming mags like ToyFare here.  Video games are the base entry level on the pyramid of nerd-dom.  Common as.  One level up and in much fewer numbers are the comic book fans, represented by Wizard Magazine, which will be coming, eventually.  At the top of the pyramid and in the smallest numbers are the action figure collectors - the nerds who play games, read comics, AND aren't ashamed to play with toys.  What level of nerd are you?
   
   

   126 downloads

   2 comments

   Submitted January 23, 2024

3. 

   ToyFare 003 (November 1997)

   By kitsunebi

   There was a brief time period in the late 90s where I got back into buying toys (as opposed to when I was a kid).  I remember being excited by the G.I.JOEs featured in this issue.  The  JOE toyline had gone down the crapper and disappeared a few years earlier (one of their final waves of figures was a true jump-the-shark crossover with Street Fighter), but it was the older figures from the 80s I collected as a kid that interested me.  And this new line of Toys R Us exclusives were all repaints of the old 80s characters and vehicles using the original molds.  Pretty cool, I thought, and I bought them all.  Unfortunately, the production quality wasn't quite up to snuff and they didn't look as good as the prototypes.  The Cobra Rage in particular was a total disaster - it's pictured in this issue in a respectable dark blue and black color scheme, but the actual product that shipped was molded in aqua blue and light gray plastic.  It was so ugly I actually repainted the entire thing before assembling it, like it was a model or something.  I've never gone to such lengths before or since, but I suppose it's nice to have a one-of-a-kind collectible that looks nice (probably with zero resell value, but I swore off eBay for good decades ago, anyway.)
   

   114 downloads

   0 comments

   Submitted February 7, 2024

4. 

   ToyFare 004 (December 1997)

   By kitsunebi

   On the one hand, that Lara Croft toy...😬
   On the other hand, it isn't THAT far off from the first game's CG model. 🫤
   Luckily more attractive Lara toys would be made later on. 😉
   

   108 downloads

   2 comments

   Submitted February 14, 2024

5. 

   ToyFare 005 (January 1998)

   By kitsunebi

   90 downloads

   0 comments

   Submitted July 8, 2024

6. 

   ToyFare 006 (February 1998)

   By kitsunebi

   Does anyone remember wax lips? 
   
   You know, from back before kids had smartphones and had to entertain themselves with gags sold in the backs of comic books, like joy buzzers, fake vomit, and whoopee cushions?  You'd put these things on and walk around hoping to get a laugh, till you got bored and just ate them.
   Dunno why I was thinking of those just now...
    
   
   ...
   ...
   ...
   Oh dear, I've poked the bear known as Horseface Croft, and Silver Edition @Areala is not amused...
               
   

   84 downloads

   1 comment

   Submitted August 25, 2024

7. 

   ToyFare 007 (March 1998)

   By kitsunebi

   You know, I think I saw this Lara Croft in a movie once.  I still wake up screaming sometimes.
    
       Life choices  
   

   101 downloads

   2 comments

   Updated December 17, 2024

8. 

   ToyFare 008 (April 1998)

   By kitsunebi

   Hope you all are enjoying playing with whatever toys Santa brought you this year.
   This mag was released in early 1998, and was an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan, what with the prequels looming as a still-nebulous but guaranteed new hope on the horizon.  I was actually buying quite a few of the toys at the time, mostly out of nostalgia for the original Kenner toys I had as a kid, despite the absolutely fugly sculpts on many of the new releases...
   
   Of course, unbeknownst to me, tragedy was just around the corner, as when the prequels actually began appearing a year later, they mercilessly slaughtered all appreciation and goodwill I had toward the franchise to the point that I can't watch anything "Star Wars" to this day.  But for the time, at least, all was right with the world, and Boba Fett was still one of the coolest dudes you could slap on a cover.
   

   70 downloads

   2 comments

   Updated December 26, 2024

9. 

   ToyFare Spring Special Edition (April 1997)

   By kitsunebi

   Merry Christmas!  Hope Santa brought you lots of toys and goodies.  Speaking of which...😋
   This issue precedes the monthly publication.
   

   134 downloads

   3 comments

   Submitted December 24, 2023