Dalek voice changer helmet by Underground Toys
© Underground Toys
Toy Maniac: Toy Helmets for Halloween
By: Robert T. TrateDate: Thursday, September 25, 2008
Halloween will be upon us within a few weeks. The costume stores have popped up and the craze, for some, has already started. What will I be? For the gals it is usually pretty easy, it is their one night of the year to dress up as a slutty plumber, bar maid, race car driver, Snow White or angel. For the guys it is usually something heroic or scary. Now I know what you are thinking. What is the Toy Maniac talking about Halloween costumes? Well the foundation or key to a simple great costume can be found in the toy department. This week’s Toy Maniac column features helmets and voice changers. This is by no means a definitive list of helmets and voice changers available. Here are just a few ideas to get the ball rolling and get those all important costumes under way. Many, if not all, of these items can found on Amazon but I have supplied a few links to help you out. The upside to all of these costumes is afterwards you will have an awesome helmet/ mask to display in your home.
A Helmet and some effort
All right, these costumes will take a bit of effort. Fear not, I will help you nail down some pretty sweet attire. Let’s start off easy. Sure the Speed Racer movie was not all we hoped it would be. This means these helmets are sitting in the discount aisle at your local Toys R Us or Wal-Mart. The costume itself is simple with a blue shirt, red scarf, yellow gloves and white pants and you can be Speed Racer.
By far the easiest costume would be King Leonidas from 300. You just better have the abs to go shirtless and the wallet to go out and buy Neca’s Prop Replica. If you have the abs but not the fat wallet here is a cheaper alternative of the helmet without the hair. An old bed sheet and a big belt and you are ready to go for the night.
Now I left out a lot of Star Wars helmets and masks from this week’s column. Boba Fett, Jango Fett, Stormtroopers and Darth Vader have been done to death. They are also an expensive endeavor to get them right. The Emperors Royal Guard is pretty easy but not really much of a challenge. Besides, do you really want to wear that helmet and red cloak all night? If Star Wars is in your blood then I recommend going as either a Rebel Pilot or a Tie Fighter Pilot (see gallery). Flight suits can be found at any Army Navy store or on the Internet. However, to get exact details and instructions on the rest of the costume check out Obi-Wan’s Jedi Academy. Listed there are all the costume tips you‘ll need in creating a great Star Wars flight suit. It’s all in the details and most of these items can be found at a hardware store for practically nothing.
My final costume will take some effort. The Rocketeer is a classic film which never spawned a franchise and probably has one of the best helmets ever. A leather jacket and a make shift rocket pack will have all of friends jealous with envy. Sure, not many people will know who you are but in explaining your costume you’ll get them interested in seeing Joe Johnston’s classic movie.
All you Need is the Mask
Sometimes all you need is the mask and some clothes from the closet and you are set. Here are three masks and three great excuses to buy some awesome toys. The first is Doctor Who’s Dalek Hybrid Voice Changer Mask by Underground Toys. So what if not everybody at the party will know who you are. That one single eye will be enough to unnerve any girl who is dressed up as a slutty pumpkin. A suit from the closet, maybe even some second hand wing tips and you’ll be the classiest most horrific guy at the party.
Now who has the time or money to make an Iron Man suit? You could buy one of those cloth ones from a Halloween store or you could pick up an Iron Man helmet on Amazon. Put the helmet in a brief case with a red shirt. Grab a liquor bottle, a suit from the closet and not shave for a week and you are Tony Stark from that classic Marvel comic “Demon in a Bottle”. You’ll be two years ahead of everyone else when other people are doing the same costume after Iron Man 2 hits theaters.
The third and final helmet is the Optimus Prime Voice Changer Helmet. Your little brother, cousin or nephew probably has one sitting around and they’re probably not using it anymore. Grab the helmet, a fat gold chain and be Hip Hop Optimus (see gallery). Besides the fact you’ll probably spend most of the night saying “transform and roll out” you’ll be the only one at the party who is a Transformer.
Halloween is the best time of the year and a chance to really let your creative side out. Those really cool toys that you can’t find a reason to buy can suddenly have a justifiable purchase. Next week The Toy Maniac Column will feature single toys that can make your very simple costume out of this world.
finally arrived action figures
After Return of the Jedi finished its run at the movie theaters across America, the action figure empire that was Kenner’s Star Wars line came to an end. G.I. Joe became all the rage in its smaller incarnation which had vehicles and play sets to rival that of Star Wars. There were however two G.I. Joe universes. There was the syndicated cartoon that played every day after school and Marvel Comics monthly tales of the real American heroes. The characters were the same but their stories were at times vastly different. This week’s “finally arrived actions figures” are two G.I. Joe figures that never saw the light of day in the original Hasbro run. The first is from the second issue of the comic series titled “Panic at the North Pole”. Snake Eyes in his artic gear wearing Kwinn’s skull necklace, makes one more figure for this uber popular character. The details are great but there is something satisfying about owning this figure that had such a greater back story in the comic than he did on the cartoon. The other figure is one of the Baroness from the cartoon that started it all, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. Why didn’t Hasbro capitalize on doing these figures from both the cartoon and the comic? I for one would have bought both without a second thought. I always wondered why there was never a General Flagg figure from the cartoon or Cobra Commander’s son Billy from the comic.
RETRO Toy Commercial of the week:
With Artic Snake Eyes and the cartoon Baroness finally making their debut I thought I would do this week’s retro toy commercial on G.I. Joe. The greatest play set they ever had was the U.S.S. Flag, an aircraft carrier that you could actually land jets on. It was 7 feet long and required practically every G.I. Joe you had to man it. I had one as kid and it was the toy to have.
Video Games Releases for the Week:
PS3, PS2 and PSP
Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune for PlayStation 2 by Destination Software (PlayStation2)
BAJA: Edge of Control by THQ (PLAYSTATION 3)
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway by UBI Soft (PLAYSTATION 3)
Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway Limited Edition by UBI Soft (PLAYSTATION 3)
BUZZ! Master Quiz by Sony Computer Entertainment (Sony PSP)
Buzz! Quiz TV Bundle by Sony Computer Entertainment (PLAYSTATION 3)
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts '09 by Activision Inc. (PLAYSTATION 3)
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts '09 by Activision Inc. (PlayStation2)
Dragonball Z Trilogy by Atari Inc. (PlayStation2)
LEGO Batman by Warner Bros (Sony PSP)
LEGO Batman by Warner Bros (PlayStation2)
LEGO Batman by Warner Bros (PLAYSTATION 3)
Mortal Kombat Kollection (Deception, Armageddon, Shaolin Monks) by Midway (PlayStation2)
Pipe Mania by Empire Interactive (Sony PSP)
Pipe Mania by Empire Interactive (PlayStation2)
SingStar Pop Vol. 2 by Sony Computer Entertainment (PlayStation2)
Warriors Orochi 2 by KOEI Corp (PlayStation2)
Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS
Animal Paradise by Empire Interactive (Nintendo DS)
Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune by Zoo Games (Nintendo Wii)
Babysitting Mania by Majesco Sales Inc. (Nintendo DS)
Brain Quest: Grades 3 & 4 by Electronic Arts (Nintendo DS)
Brain Quest: Grades 5 & 6 by Electronic Arts (Nintendo DS)
Brothers in Arms: Double Time by UBI Soft (Nintendo Wii)
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts '09 by Activision Inc. (Nintendo Wii)
DeBlob by THQ (Nintendo Wii)
Dinosaur King by Sega Of America, Inc. (Nintendo DS)
Disgaea DS by Atlus (Nintendo DS)
Drop Cast by THQ (Nintendo DS)
Hi! Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Challenge by Natsume, Inc. (Nintendo DS)
Jeep Thrills by Zoo Games (Nintendo Wii)
Kirby Super Star Ultra by Nintendo (Nintendo DS)
LEGO Batman by Warner Bros (Nintendo Wii)
LEGO Batman by Warner Bros (Nintendo DS)
Lost In Blue: Shipwrecked by Konami (Nintendo Wii)
Margot's Word Brain by Zoo Games (Nintendo DS)
Margot's Word Brain by Zoo Games (Nintendo Wii)
Medal of Honor 10th Anniversary Bundle by Electronic Arts (Windows Vista / XP)
My SAT Coach with The Princeton Review by UBI Soft (Nintendo DS)
My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie's Party by THQ (Nintendo DS)
Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase by THQ (Nintendo DS)
Onimusha Essentials by Capcom (PlayStation2)
Pipe Mania by Empire Interactive (Nintendo DS)
Pitfall: The Lost Expedition by Activision Inc. (Nintendo Wii)
Rhapsody, A Musical Adventure by Atlus (Nintendo DS)
Samba De Amigo by Sega Of America, Inc. (Nintendo Wii)
Shaun The Sheep by D3 Publisher (Nintendo DS)
SimCity Creator by Electronic Arts (Nintendo Wii)
SimCity Creator by Electronic Arts (Nintendo DS)
Ultimate Shooting Collection by Tommo (Nintendo Wii)
Wario Land: Shake It! by Nintendo (Nintendo Wii)
Xbox 360
BAJA: Edge of Control by THQ (Xbox 360)
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway by UBI Soft (Xbox 360)
Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway Limited Edition by UBI Soft (Xbox 360)
Cabela's Dangerous Hunts '09 by Activision Inc. (Xbox 360)
LEGO Batman by Warner Bros (Xbox 360)
Time Hollow by Konami (Nintendo DS)
Warriors Orochi 2 by KOEI Corp (Xbox 360)
PC
Bill "Spaceman" Lee's Baseball Mogul 2009 by Strategy First (Windows Vista / XP)
Dark Horizon by Paradox (Windows Vista / XP)
C-130 Hercules X Expansion for MS Flight Simulator X by Just Flight (Windows Vista / XP)
Command & Conquer 3 Deluxe Edition by Electronic Arts (Windows Vista / XP)
EA Sports Collection by Electronic Arts (Windows Vista / XP)
Guild Wars Trilogy by NCsoft (Windows Vista / XP)
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith by Aspyr Media (Windows Vista / XP)
IGOR The Game by Southpeak (Windows Vista / XP)
Kings Bounty: The Legend by Atari (Windows Vista / XP)
LEGO Batman by Warner Bros (Windows)
Microids: Nostradamus by Encore Software (Windows Vista / XP)
Mystery Stories: Island Of Hope by Masque Publishing (Windows 2000 / 98 / Me / Vista / XP)
Pipe Mania by Emp Interactive (Windows Vista / XP)
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization by 2K Games (Windows Vista / XP)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent by Encore Software (Windows Vista / XP)
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