Mutagen Men Toycast

Is it gambling, or is it toys? Are they still Transformers if they don't transform? And what the heck is a blokee, anyway? In today's episode we unravel the mysteries of the mini-model mania gripping the world of licensed action figures in the 2020s, diving deep into the world of China's Blokees brand, from Transformers to Mega Man to...Hatsune Miku? So buy a case or a blind-box and build some cur...

Our 50th episode! Today we bring back the ever-popular Jake Setzke, the Funny Prince himself, to talk about five of our favorite toys from each of our collections. From Transformers to Masters of the Universe to Exosquad and beyond, this special extra-long episode covers nearly every corner of the action figure universe. Join us

Launch all Valkyries! In this week's episode of Mutagen Men we climb aboard the SDF-1 to face down the Zentraedi and the other marauding aliens facing the world of Robotech, which featured a mashup of three different classic mecha anime TV series. Airing in the 1980s and later on Toonami in the 90s, the show was a gateway into the wider world of mech anime and featured a landmark toyline from Matc...

Build, customize, and mobilize! In today's Mutagen Men we travel to the distant Planet Zi, a world of mechanical life-forms known as Zoids, machine-like animals modified into piloted war machines. Dating back to the 1980s, Tomy and other companies have been producing Zoids model kits near constantly in the decades between, including several forays into North America. These model kits feature intri...

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 ev...

Mattel's Masters of the Universe toyline is full of colorful characters with fantastic powers and incredible action features. One of the oldest is Teela, the warrior goddess, sorceress, barbarian warrior, and only female figure in the first wave of toys. Teela appears in nearly every iteration of Masters of the Universe, her snake staff ready to fight back the hordes of Skeletor. In today's episod...

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 tran...

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 t...

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 o...

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 imag...

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/Starscr...

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...

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 u...

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 t...

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, Dra...

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 micromanfor...

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:...

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...

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 w...

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 PK...

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...