Super Sentai vending machine bootleg figures

What: Here are a couple vending machine bootlegs I've had for a couple decades, but until recently, I never knew where the characters came from. All I knew is that they were pretty awesome monsters. I mean, they've got extra monster faces attached to their arms, for cryin' out loud. But thanks to the wonders of the Internet (specifically this upload from Flickr member Toy Satori), I learned these creatures come from Super Sentai, which is apparently the Japanese series that Power Rangers was sourced from. I'm not sure what or how many other figures went along with these.

When: Early 1990s.

Where: Out of a toy vending machine (probably one of those generic robot/alien-themed ones with the header card that said "Creatures From the Stars."

Who: N/A

A few random robots

Lately I've been taking pictures of a lot of different kinds of robot figures, and here's a few that didn't fit in any larger groups. I think they all came out a vending machine at one time or another. The smaller ones in front are more recent--probably within the last 5 years or so. The two that look like game pieces are probably from the early 1990s. The yellow one in the middle is a rubbery pencil topper of Twiki from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Parachute robot vending machine figures

What: Ever since Imperial Toy's "Poopatroopers" of the 1970s, little plastic figures with parachutes attached have been a common offering in variety stores and toy vending machines. The little parachutes never seemed to work too well and would always get tangled beyond help after a few minutes, but they were still fun, and even if you wanted to cut the parachute off you'd still be left with a cool figure. One variation released over the years includes various robot figures, which appear to be bootlegs of Japanese robot toys. The figures in the first photo above are some of my earliest vending machine toys--I remember begging for quarters to get them out of a machine in a bowling alley around 1987/1988. The clear variations in the bottom photo are more current; they were being sold as party favors in bulk lots on eBay as recently as earlier this year.

For more photos of these figures, check out the Little Weirdos vending machine figures set on Flickr.

When: Mostly 1980s-1990s, but they still pop up sometimes (like the clear versions pictured above, which are very new).

Where: Toy vending machines, party stores, dollar/variety stores

Who: N/A

P.E.T. Aliens

What: P.E.T., or "Pocketsize Extra Tiny" Aliens (there are a lot of acronyms in the world of mini figures, no?), a set of wacky-looking soft plastic aliens with painted details. According to MinifiguresXD there are around 30 different figures, but I only have the two pictured above.

When: Early-mid 1990s.

Where: Apparently these were mostly a U.K. thing, and were offered as cereal premiums there, but I remember getting the two I have as kid's meals premiums at White Castle here in the U.S. I am not sure exactly how many were offered that way.

Who: Created by Seven Towns.

Ornery oranges

There are a lot of moments in my life where I just stop what I'm doing and say to myself, "Damn, I'm a huge geek." One such moment came during the process of taking the above photo, during which I spent way too much time picking out, arranging and shooting a group of orange toys. I had so much fun taking a pic of a bunch of green mini figures together that I wanted to do the same for other colors, starting with orange. See? Huge geek. But if being a toy geek is wrong, I don't wanna be right. Now to figure out which color to do next...

Here are the toy lines featured in this photo: Dragons N Monsters, MUSCLE, Mini Boglins, vending machine knockoff of Marty Toy space creature, Diener Space Creatures, Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys, Necros Fortress, Freakies, party favor monster, Space Ace, mini vending machine kaiju, Monster in My Pocket