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Twisted ToyFare Theatre #7
Twisted ToyFare Theatre: Volume 7
Can you believe we re up to the seventh TWISTED TOYFARE THEATRE trade paperback? This new 104-page book collects even more of the funniest episodes from ToyFare magazines monthly Twisted ToyFare Theatre comic strips. Join Mego Spidey and a random assortment of hobbits, stormtroopers and masters of the universe in hilarious episodes that have never before been collected!!! THE LATEST COLLECTION GIVES YOU A MOTHER'S LOVE, TWISTED TOYFARE THEATRE STRIPS! That's why they call it a Twisted ToyFare Theatre collection, right? You'll see the Hulk go trick-or-treating, only to end up having tragic run-ins with a talking ape and Doctor Doom. You'll see the Megos find out that their entire life is a lie and that they're just toys being photographed in goofy poses by a bunch of nerds. You'll see which movie Sauron, the ultimate evil in Lord of the Rings, watches with Gary Oldman. And you'll see the biggest Twisted ToyFare ever, when Mego Spidey must save Megoville from the clutches of the Dr. Doom s cadre of villains armed with nothing more than a bratty kid and a certifiably insane robot! TOYFARE TAKES ON COMIC STRIPS! From our hit Monthly Rag section, check out the first Twisted ToyFare Sunday Funnies page! Six pages of cartoon parodies featuring Kraven and Hobbes, Good Ol Charlie Xavier, Thunderkatzenjammer Kids, Spy vs. Spy vs. Alien vs. Predator and more! THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE TTT UNIVERSE Find out all you ever wanted to know about your favorite TTT characters, teams and Aunt May's deadliest oven mitt.
106 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 12, 2020
OH MY GOD!
I can't believe that I've been sitting on this book for so long and I hadn't read it yet! I have 5 of the 11 published volumes. I've read the first 4 books literally a dozen times. Needing a gigantic pick-me-up, I grabbed my stash of TFTs and gave them another read. And then we've got this one!
It's full of later era Toyfare productions. The photography, set designs, and special effects has taken a quantum leap. But the humor is the same as usual.
THANK GOD!
My sense of humor is more surrealist, black comedy stuff. Things like Monty Python, The Tick, and Deadpool. But when things get closer to toilet humor (and none of the 3 previously mentioned franchises are innocent of diving into that end of the pool), I DO tend to shy away. Yet, if you have a bunch cheaply made 1970s toys acting out explosive diarrhea, violence and general horseplay, I am a sucker for it.
This is a big reason I am a huge fan of Robot Chicken! Which interestingly enough, some of the writers and staff, including Tom Root (and one one occasion, Seth Green) cut their teeth on Twisted Toyfare Theatre! No wonder I love it.
There's 6 more volumes left. 4 more than I thought. Sadly, these suckers are not easy to find. Currently out of print, and likely never to be reprinted again due to Wizard Magazine having gone defunct, the volumes I can find are not cheap. But man, do I want the whole series!
Featuring a surreal forward from Weird Al- this was a pleasant surprise on my bookshelves!
I can't believe that I've been sitting on this book for so long and I hadn't read it yet! I have 5 of the 11 published volumes. I've read the first 4 books literally a dozen times. Needing a gigantic pick-me-up, I grabbed my stash of TFTs and gave them another read. And then we've got this one!
It's full of later era Toyfare productions. The photography, set designs, and special effects has taken a quantum leap. But the humor is the same as usual.
THANK GOD!
My sense of humor is more surrealist, black comedy stuff. Things like Monty Python, The Tick, and Deadpool. But when things get closer to toilet humor (and none of the 3 previously mentioned franchises are innocent of diving into that end of the pool), I DO tend to shy away. Yet, if you have a bunch cheaply made 1970s toys acting out explosive diarrhea, violence and general horseplay, I am a sucker for it.
This is a big reason I am a huge fan of Robot Chicken! Which interestingly enough, some of the writers and staff, including Tom Root (and one one occasion, Seth Green) cut their teeth on Twisted Toyfare Theatre! No wonder I love it.
There's 6 more volumes left. 4 more than I thought. Sadly, these suckers are not easy to find. Currently out of print, and likely never to be reprinted again due to Wizard Magazine having gone defunct, the volumes I can find are not cheap. But man, do I want the whole series!
Featuring a surreal forward from Weird Al- this was a pleasant surprise on my bookshelves!
December 9, 2016
More greatness. I particularly liked the parodies of old newspaper strips.
March 2, 2026
Twisted Toyfare Theatre: Volumes 7 & 8 (2007) (“graphic novel”)
In the 2000s, a magazine called Toyfare covered the world of collectible action figures, statues, and maquettes, with articles on the latest items produced and the collectible values of earlier items. Within each issue, the editors published a four- to eight-page feature called “Twisted Toyfare Theatre,” in which they set up a hilarious comicbook-type story using the figures. These stories became so popular that they were collected into volumes and sold as separate magazines.
The creators usually used Mego action figures from the 1970s, which look primitive and have limited mobility. The figures were posed on hand-built sets, photographed in sequence, and then dialogue balloons and narration boxes were overlaid. It sounds monotonous from my description, but the results are wickedly hysterical scenes that make fun of the characters with lowball humor that doesn’t shy away from innuendo and scatology. This stuff is bust-your-sides-laughing funny, especially if you know the characters they’re using who are characterized against type or with some outstanding humorous flaw. For instance, Spider-Man in the comics is consistently driven by guilt, but the Spidey of TTT cares only about getting what he wants. Other characters include the Invisible Girl, who is depicted as loose, the Hulk, who is consistently flatulent, Captain America, who still thinks the morals of the 1940s rule, Daredevil, who really is blind, Iron Man, who is always drunk, and Thor, who is always worrying about his long flowing hair. There are running jokes, such as Doctor Doom always shooting the Baxter Building into space. One can’t explain humor and make it funny. You just have to read it for yourself. It’s the kind of humor that somehow works by the characters living up to their defined characteristics. For example, you expect Spider-Man to slam the door in Aunt May’s face, and when he does, you laugh. (Which is weird, because to me, humor always came from an unexpected occurrence in a sequence.)
Anyway, even though one can’t explain it, I can try storyboarding an example. Back when these were published, Wolverine was a very popular character who appeared in many titles. One story showed how difficult it was for him to be in all these comics at the same time, and the tedium of his diehard traits being shown over and over again. (Background: X-Men stories sometimes deal with Professor X being able to walk again. And the Fastball Special – when Colossus picks up a colleague and throws him toward the danger – is used a lot.)
So, on just one page of this story, in the first panel, Professor X is standing up in front of his wheelchair and declares, “I can walk!” Cyclops: “*Gasp* How did it happen, Professor?” Professor X: “Let’s say nanites this time.”
Panel Two: Wolverine kicks in the door to enter the room, and the door hits the Professor in the back with a loud “KRACK!”
Panel Three: Wolverine kisses Jean Grey.
Panel Four: Wolverine says to Cyclops, “I don’t play by your rules, bub!”
Panel Five: Wolverine: “Grrr! I can barely contain my berserker rage!”
Panel Six: He kisses Storm.
Panel Seven: Colossus tosses Wolverine out the window because he’s in a hurry, saying, “Fastball special, Pete!”, and Colossus replies, “Da, tovarish!”
Panel Eight: Wolverine grabs a taxi, saying, “To Canada, bub, and step on it,” while Colossus and Jean Grey look out through the broken window.
So the writers hit all the major story beats used in Wolverine stories and showed how mechanical they’d become, as well as commenting, in their own way, on Wolverine’s overexposure.
As I said, you have to read it. Highly recommended.
Semi-random pull quote: Wolverine: “What a day to oversleep – I gotta be in six books, two cross-overs, a movie and a Denny’s grand opening.”
In the 2000s, a magazine called Toyfare covered the world of collectible action figures, statues, and maquettes, with articles on the latest items produced and the collectible values of earlier items. Within each issue, the editors published a four- to eight-page feature called “Twisted Toyfare Theatre,” in which they set up a hilarious comicbook-type story using the figures. These stories became so popular that they were collected into volumes and sold as separate magazines.
The creators usually used Mego action figures from the 1970s, which look primitive and have limited mobility. The figures were posed on hand-built sets, photographed in sequence, and then dialogue balloons and narration boxes were overlaid. It sounds monotonous from my description, but the results are wickedly hysterical scenes that make fun of the characters with lowball humor that doesn’t shy away from innuendo and scatology. This stuff is bust-your-sides-laughing funny, especially if you know the characters they’re using who are characterized against type or with some outstanding humorous flaw. For instance, Spider-Man in the comics is consistently driven by guilt, but the Spidey of TTT cares only about getting what he wants. Other characters include the Invisible Girl, who is depicted as loose, the Hulk, who is consistently flatulent, Captain America, who still thinks the morals of the 1940s rule, Daredevil, who really is blind, Iron Man, who is always drunk, and Thor, who is always worrying about his long flowing hair. There are running jokes, such as Doctor Doom always shooting the Baxter Building into space. One can’t explain humor and make it funny. You just have to read it for yourself. It’s the kind of humor that somehow works by the characters living up to their defined characteristics. For example, you expect Spider-Man to slam the door in Aunt May’s face, and when he does, you laugh. (Which is weird, because to me, humor always came from an unexpected occurrence in a sequence.)
Anyway, even though one can’t explain it, I can try storyboarding an example. Back when these were published, Wolverine was a very popular character who appeared in many titles. One story showed how difficult it was for him to be in all these comics at the same time, and the tedium of his diehard traits being shown over and over again. (Background: X-Men stories sometimes deal with Professor X being able to walk again. And the Fastball Special – when Colossus picks up a colleague and throws him toward the danger – is used a lot.)
So, on just one page of this story, in the first panel, Professor X is standing up in front of his wheelchair and declares, “I can walk!” Cyclops: “*Gasp* How did it happen, Professor?” Professor X: “Let’s say nanites this time.”
Panel Two: Wolverine kicks in the door to enter the room, and the door hits the Professor in the back with a loud “KRACK!”
Panel Three: Wolverine kisses Jean Grey.
Panel Four: Wolverine says to Cyclops, “I don’t play by your rules, bub!”
Panel Five: Wolverine: “Grrr! I can barely contain my berserker rage!”
Panel Six: He kisses Storm.
Panel Seven: Colossus tosses Wolverine out the window because he’s in a hurry, saying, “Fastball special, Pete!”, and Colossus replies, “Da, tovarish!”
Panel Eight: Wolverine grabs a taxi, saying, “To Canada, bub, and step on it,” while Colossus and Jean Grey look out through the broken window.
So the writers hit all the major story beats used in Wolverine stories and showed how mechanical they’d become, as well as commenting, in their own way, on Wolverine’s overexposure.
As I said, you have to read it. Highly recommended.
Semi-random pull quote: Wolverine: “What a day to oversleep – I gotta be in six books, two cross-overs, a movie and a Denny’s grand opening.”
March 2, 2008
i have a soft spot for TTT. tho i have to say, and maybe this is just my imagination, but, i think it was funnier before their best writers started doing Robot Chicken.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews