December 12, 2007
CHOOSE YOUR RIDE. CHOOSE YOUR SIDE.

So — finally — here’s that article I promised: a review of the Street Blazers 7″ Dante tractor trailer. However, as with many of my reviews and articles in general, the review only takes up the latter portion of the article — the rest consists of my reflections on the line and related toys, reasons for picking up the item in the first place, and so forth. You may not find the prospect of a dollar store toy with an actual backstory to be as exciting as I did, but hopefully you’ll find my musings to be a little bit interesting at the very least. 🙂

Anyway, I will eventually return to the QC Dinobots (I promise!), but they’ve been preempted yet again in favor of a subject that is way too near and dear to my heart. Here — instead of saying what the next article will be about, I’ll just show you:

OH YEAH!

Stay tuned, minna-san. 😉

-posted by Wes | 6:41 pm | Comments (4)
4 Comments »
  • Pretty much everything I said in my comment on your last blog entry applies here (I probably should have saved that comment for this article).

    Anyway, I think it’s awesome that a low-budget toy is actually making the effort with a full-blown backstory! And, it’s a pretty cool one at that (seriously, I love the demonic death-race concept).

    I’m pretty sure the reason behind that is boredom. I mean, these people basically make the same bland toys over and over again. So, I can see why they finally got sick of it, and found a creative way to spice their toys up (while keeping them at $1.00).

    Still, usually when a toy is given a backstory it’s because they intend to make a cartoon about it. But, for a low budget dollar-store-toy, hiring a professional studio and getting a show on TV is pretty much out of the question. A shame, because it’d make a great cartoon.

    However, nowadays, there is an alternative to that. They could always hire a single flash animator for an insanely small fraction what a full studio charges, and have some short films made for their website. Judging by my quick glance at their site, they seem to have no such intention. I’m considering writing in the suggestion (along with a note that I myself am a flash animator that can work dirt cheap).

    Anyway, about the alleged “good guys” not looking very “good”. Keep in mind you are judging by appearance. Who’s to say there can’t be perfectly benevolent skull-faced apparitions? Though, actually my theory is that they used to be on the same side as Diablo, but turned over a new leaf and decided to fight against him. Now, THAT’S something to think about.

    At any rate, looking forward to the Madballs article. I LOVE the Madballs!

  • Anonymous says:

    Interesting theory from Tetsu…but if Gabriel was a fallen angel on the side of evil, and then fell from Diablo’s graces, what would he be? “Fallen again”? “Fallen deepe”?r
    I agree that makes for compelling stories, a la TMNT, when the heroes turn from evil back to good but are still persona non grata with god/authority. But race car drivers? Or possibly possesed cars and trucks? I have a feeling this line was inspired by Ghost Rider.
    I just can’t see many parents going for this ambiguously spiritual struggle.

  • Well, I’m picturing more of a “Twisted Metal” style “battle-race” than just a plain old race. I imagine all of the cars are both equipped with weapons both earthly and supernatural, ranging from powerful missiles to formidable spells. That would be so cool!

    As for why they’re messing around in cars to begin with. I guess we can chalk that up to “it’s cool, so who cares if it makes sense”. Most good toy backstories have a little bit of that (though most big-budget movies are ruined by too much of that, but we’re talking about a toy).

    I can’t see too many parents giving a damn about the silly backstory behind some cheap toy cars in the first place. Outside of ultra-conservative Nazi-types, I don’t think too many parents will object.

  • the Jax says:

    Actually, now that I think about it I remember seeing lots and lots of kids & parents in the audience at WWF events, back at the height of Undertaker’s “demonic” phase, when half the wrestlers were his hell-minions.

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