#retroblasting #bionicsix #ljn Support us on PATREON: / retroblasting Our conclusion to our retrospective on Bionic Six is finally here as Michael looks at the action figure line from LJN in 1986!
Only Retroblasting could make a video about something that I have ZERO interest in, and make me EAGERLY watch it multiple times and enjoy it more with each subsequent viewing. The comedy is "GOLD Michael, GOLD!" 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
Funny... I watched and enjoyed Bionic Six, and was surprised to find (much later in adult life) that Bionic Six was very short-lived. It was such a prominent memory, I just assumed it had lasted longer. It still has one of the best-ever theme songs/intros. Then again, I watched and LOVED the Centurions ("Power extreme!!"), too, so I might be weird that way.
Any comment I read, I always do so carefully to parse intent as best as possible to get the true meaning. My record isn't flawless, but I get about 85% correct.
Diecast on humanoid characters requires a particular touch for proper engineering. Bandai in the 80’s and 90’s knew how to make diecast figures for the yearly Super Sentai shows since Japan had a longer tradition of making articulated figures that used metal parts.
I love this IP so much. I wish the copyright wasn't so complicated and somebody would do a 1/12 scale tribute. The fact that so many have never heard of or seen the cartoon is criminal.
After a few viewings of your very appreciated review, I get strong Col. Kurtz vibes from that Dr. Scarab design. The horror, the horror! I always like the diecast parts, but as with your figures, my sole survivor, Sport 1, needs a walker.
Great episode, Michael. It's an awkward line, but I ended up collecting everything from it a few years ago, as it's just such a unique and bizarre grouping of figures and vehicles.
This is like watching the final episode of a Saturday morning cartoon beautifully animated in Japan but the American writers didn't have any good stories including the finale (I'm looking at you, Dinosaucers) but we still fondly remember it. Bionic Six is fianally done! On to Thundercats (redux?)REDO!
"But I could be completely incorrect. So it's a good thing I simply can't bring myself to care." - this line just got GIF'd and added to my collection, Michael.
Fantastic video. I watched the show on wacaday and had just 1 figure. B&M bargains (still open here in U.K.) would get import toys on clearance. They had turtles with ninja not hero packaging and they had oddities like this. They had the mother and the flying villain chair and that’s it. Interesting to see the rest of this line.
I owned the bubonic six(yes bubonic because I eventually became sick of then)figures along with my younger brother backnin the day. Like Michael says in the video the joints eventually became loss and I had to tighten the joints way to many times. I eventually stopped collecting(aka parental purchase)when paint began chipping away frontage diecast metal, the same as with my defenders of the earth figures. During my childhood years of this cartoons original run, my imaginative head canon was that Bionic one and his wife were Steve Austin and Jamie Summers with a brood of adopted children.
Sing those Robotech toys helps me remember that I actually had. A few of those are if I saw that without hearing Robotech, I would’ve thought it was Voltron toys.
I have fond memories of waking up with my brothers early Saturday morning in 1990 to watch reruns of this show. We have 6 members in our immediate family and liked the cheese sandwich theme song. Loved the videos. And the last joke... 5*
1 - I loved Perceptor (he was basically Daredevil, but yeah - he was cool) 2 - I loved Glove (but that might have had something to do with him looking like a purple Rogue Trooper, but with a cool-ass missile launching glove)
Even though i didn't grow up in the 80's, i think Bionic Six seems like a pretty impressive show. I mean, a family given superpowers through the miracle of modern science to defend Earth from evil forces? I'd sign up for that. This video was impressive to learn about the Bionic Six toyline 😉
Thank you for another great feature video. I will never mind the wait between features because I know since Michael takes his time and cares that they will all be of the same high quality.
Oh memories! I use to have all the family set with the van. I remember one figure out of package was stuck on on the arm joints and then by using some force the arm broke off from the clear plastic. Anyway , I miss those toys….wished my mom didn’t throw it out when I became a teenager.
A very effective review. This looks like a pretty incompetently put together toy line, with some real engineering and design issues. Which is probably the reason the last time I saw this toyline (before today) was on clearance shelves at KayBee Toys. Didn't buy it then, don't want it now. Your parting thoughts are apt. I would have said, "Meh" but your point has equal apathetic weight. And now, the albatross is off your neck!! You're done with Bionic Six forever! Onward to 100K subs!
Thanks for posting this- my folks got me these toys (second hand) one Christmas and I loved them!...but never knew where they came from/what they were until now! :D
This is why I still watch the show. While we disagreed on the show we agree on how disappointing the toys were. It's why I never even considered getting them but still loved the show.
Remember watching Bionic Six Saw them at Alexander's here in The Bronx for $1.99 a figure. Didn't buy them because I couldn't get a complete set. Bunji and J.D were short packed.
We had satalite TV and I used to catch Bionic Six every blue moon the year it was shown on TV. I remember seeing the toys on pegs in KB Toys and always thought they looked amazing but I was only interested in GI Joe's at the time. I did on a whim get my parents to get a Glove figure which I have to this very day and intact despite being thrown into every storage place imaginable.
I remember seeing the comercial for these action figures when I was 9. It showed hot metal being p poured from a bucket in a smelting Factory with a voice saying "forged from Steel". I thought it was going to be a commercial for Hot Wheels or something and I was surprised it was for action figures made of metal. It also showed the clear plastic parts lighting up I think.
i remember this toy set and animation. i cant remember which character it was but one character did come with a zipline shooter and line that it could slide down
I remember the cartoon and the toys. I never bought any of the toys. I think it was the Die-cast that turned me off. When making playsets and vehicles out of cardboard and poster paper, you need light figures. Die-cast is not light, so they never really interested me. Love the time travel jokes. Great review of an interesting but flawed toyline.
I had madam O as a kid and still have her. Got her at a garage sale in 1989 or 1990 never knowing about the show she joined coba in my gi Joe's because before the internet no kid know what toy what what after the show was off store shelves. I didnt even know most of the Joes till recently. Kid me reasoned it was 3.75 and built like a gi joe it went with them and if it was 5poa it went with star wars expect adventure people to me they were 70s joes. would love to find more bionic 6 figures for my collection. thanks for the retrospective.
I remember seeing this line many times, and eventually on clearance, and passing each time, because the figures just didn't look as good as I wanted them to. The cartoon has some great designs, but the figures just didn't capture them, for me. I'd look back and forth between the card art and the toy and just get discouraged and pass. I did often consider buying the playset to use with other lines, but I could never get enthusiastic enough to actually put down the cash. Overall, some interesting stuff, but just missing the "spark" that would have made it great.
I never saw the cartoon or toys on pegs or shelves either. I had heard of the Bionic Six and thought it was a cool name for a toy line, but never saw anything from it back then. I really appreciated the presentation and analysis of this line, but I highly doubt I would have been into it.
ANOTHER great review as always! I actually had all of the figures, and I really enjoyed them for the most! Especially with some of the see through plastic to approximate their 'bionics'. But yes, even as a kid, those accessories made no sense to me! PERFECT example: Why does Jack have the scuba/diving equipment, when HELEN was the one that was literally...........an OCEANOGRAPHER? And as far as the vehicles and "playset"? Thank you for making me GRATEFUL that I never collected them as a kid! That 'playset' could have almost been the LJN progenitor to Hasbro's "Bridge To Nowhere"! Hahahahahaha Thanks again to you (and Broken Vader😄👍) for another great video.....that was worth the wait!
I’m about the same age as Michael & I never heard of Bionic 6 until a couple of years ago. I had all of the big toys of our generation; Transformers, GI Joe, MASK, heck I even had some Captain Power & a few Tron figures (with a light cycle!) Never had a single Bionic 6 figure, never saw an episode of the show. Never even saw any at the toy store. At least I know I apparently wasn’t the only one. This is possibly the funniest episode yet. Because science, bitch.
I always wanted the toys but they weren't around in my area. Could never find them at Kay Bees nor Toys R Us. Was hoping for the Preceptor to get a figure. Disappointed that they weren't as good as I had hoped. I still love the show
I think I saw one episode after school and only saw the figures at the local BEST department store. I wanted to get one but only was allowed to grab some cheaper generic green boat with a real working rear fan that was scaled for 3-3/4" figures. A friend had most of them however. Maybe NECA needs to take a crack them? I did have a few Defenders of the Earth and love their new figures.
I was always curious about the availability of these figures. I owned two of them as a kid and kept going back for more, but could never find the rest on the shelves. I had no clue that La-BORE-atory playset existed.
Michael, I'd like to think the whole wing is a time machine, as you said, by way of "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. It makes it more exciting . . . I think.
Ummm … Let me ask this question. Did anyone ever figure out what the O in Madame O stands for.? 🤔😵💫😳😬. Yikes.. I have a thought but would like to keep this video family friendly. 👍💜
