First, we have some cars. I no longer remember what made these awesome, but I remember that they were. They're Tonka something and they need batteries. The little side wheels look like the cars belong with some kind of walled track, but I don't recall ever owning anything like that.

Next up is some Ghostbusters 2 sound effect things, which I think were from Burger King. These have to be the newest items in the box, judging from the movie's release date (1989). Each one played two sounds, and I even wrote on the back of them what the sounds were, which should give you an idea of the kind of kid I was. They're in the trash now; if you want them, you're going to have to swing by before the trash guys show up around 7am.

I loved these guys. They're from the Micronauts line and according to this website they came out in '77. I distinctly recall loving the green one, liking the blue one, and hating the red one. Note which one is missing his weapon arms.

Aside from some general piles of junk (is that an original MOTU halberd from the Castle Grayskull weapons rack?!), note the cheap plastic green and orange things. That's what you got in a McDonald's Happy Meal in 1982. Cheap plastic green and orange things.

And yes, that is a sandwich baggie full of tiny spiders.

Kind of a sad tale here. All four of these original Madballs toys have succumbed to toy rot. You'd expect that from the balls themselves, being foam. But the action figures? Sadly, yes... they're uncomfortably sticky. I'm not really sure what to do with them. They are rotting, true, but they're also extra-sweet. Did you even know that they once made Madballs action figures with launching ball heads, revealing the never before seen bodies of the Madballs? I like that the eyeball's body is just a mass of ropey red muscle. Here's a toy line that's ready for a revival. Just add some tribal tattoos and turn that 's' into an extreme 'z'... and you could have a whole new modern generation of gross-out toys for boys.

There's a little castle tower in there that came with four plastic figures inside, very Dungeons & Dragonsy for the day. There's a dragon, a roc (maybe a pheonix?) and a lizardman holding a club. The fourth figure is gone, but I think it was a wizard and a crystal ball. I'm actually rather surprised there's a piece missing.

Battle Beasts. I am so happy these guys escaped the Madballs toy rot. Here's a franchise tailor-made for me in 1986. Little collectible animals with body armor and secret team affiliations. Hell, I'd buy these today. You remember the deal... each one had a heat-activated insignia that revealed either Fire, Wood or Water (or Sunburst if you were lucky). It was elemental Rock / Paper / Scissors between action figures that you could always, always win... provided you had a good memory and your opponent picked first.

When I took them out of the box, most of them were still holding their weapons, except for four of them, which I matched up to the loose weapons completely from memory. Looking online for some Battle Beasts info, I found this page from semi-obnoxious kitsch snark site X-Entertainment that has pictures of the accompanying BB playsets... which I imagined owning so deeply back then that I am almost convinced that I once owned them now. And don't forget, these guys were created in Japan as part of the Transformers universe! NOW how cool do you think they are! (Here's another BB site that I'm linking to here simply to avoid clogging up my Safari bookmarks list.)

That damn rabbit. I can't look at that rabbit holding a double-bladed staff and not laugh.