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<\/a> Our Retro Reviews column is about taking a look back at some of the best, and worst, toys that we grew up with. Not just an exercise in nostalgia, but we\u2019d like these reviews to also be a history lesson in the industry we all love. Today\u2019s subject is still one of my favorite toys ever: Pocket Power\u2019s Glo-Bones. <\/p>\nIn 1988 a unique line of toys called Pocket Power entered the market. This line was manufactured by the game company SEGA, but distributed by the now defunct Tyco Toys. (Tyco was eventually bought out by Mattel.)<\/p>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nThe line consisted of mostly small vehicles but also included games, miniature guns that shot projectiles or water, and even the odd but unique survival kit. All these toys were made to fit into a small black carrying case that could easily be shoved into a back pocket and taken with you for traveling fun.<\/p>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nI only had two of these as a kid: the Thunder Blade helicopter and Glo-Bones. I\u2019m not really sure why my parents bought me the helicopter. As a kid, I wasn\u2019t so much into cars and trucks as I was dinosaurs and monsters. So that poor helicopter was doomed to never be loved as much as a glow-in-the-dark skeleton with its own weapons.<\/p>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nGlo-Bones sculpt is very simple, but it does have some nice details to it. The eyes and nose are recessed into the skull while the teeth are slightly raised, which adds some nice depth to a very thin figure. His torso is made of a front piece and back piece, allowing the added detail of a hollow ribcage. While his collar bone, spine, and pelvis all have sculpted details. Interestingly they sculpted his hands to have fingers but his feet have no toes, they\u2019re just wedges. <\/p>\n
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<\/center><\/p>\nThere is no paint on this guy, so all the detail comes from the sculpt. That would normally be a bad thing, but in Glo-Bones\u2019 case it\u2019s a positive because he\u2019s molded entirely out of glow-in-the-dark plastic. This gives him a great off-white look under normal conditions. But when you turn out the light, he becomes a glowing revenant that haunts your shelves. I loved glow-in-the-dark as a kid, and still love it as an adult. They could make an entire line of Scareglow-like repaints for the MOTU characters and I\u2019d be first in line to buy them. Continue to Page Two…<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Glo-Bones head has the most interesting bit of articulation because it\u2019s almost a ball-joint. The head was made to be removable from the neck, and the nub it sets on is round, but the neck is just a bit too wide so you don\u2019t get that upward motion. Technically you could call this a swivel joint I guess, but it\u2019s not really one of those either.<\/p>\n As for the rest of his body, Glo-Bones shoulders and hips are swivel hinges. His elbows, knees, ankles, and jaw are hinge joints. Plus he has swivel cuts in his thighs. With very few exceptions, like GI Joe and COPS, most toylines in 1988 had very basic articulation. Sure, they could move, but there wasn\u2019t a lot of dynamic posing going on. But Glo-Bones, the single action figure in a very random line, has articulation you\u2019d expect to see in today\u2019s standard toy line.<\/p>\n Glo-Bones can\u2019t terrorize your shelves with only his spooky glowing powers, so they gave him plenty of accessories: There\u2019s a horned helmet with tiny sculpted rivets and a band running down the middle, a short sword with a sculpted skull head on the end of the hilt, a shield with a design sculpted on the front and rivets around the edges, and a halberd with a mace on the bottom end. How badass is that?<\/p>\n But the awesome doesn\u2019t stop with the figure, because they even made the black case interesting. There are two tabs on the bottom of the case that flip out, allowing you to display Glo-Bones and his accessories right side up. This mode always made me think of Han in carbonite.<\/p>\n The case also has a small black button beneath his crotch. When you press the button in, it raises a peg on the back, allowing you to turn the case over and use it as a base.<\/p>\n Glo-Bones was never really in scale with anything, but it didn\u2019t seem to matter to me. This figure was always a favorite of mine as a kid, and I still love him today. The articulation itself was way ahead of its time, while the entire figure has this great charm to him. When I was younger I used to wish there were more monster and creature toys like him, and I still can\u2019t help but wish this was its own toyline and not just very interesting figure in a line of novelties.<\/p>\n To all the people who made this figure possible, thank you for the fond childhood memories and one of the greatest toys ever made.<\/p>\n![](\"reviews\/advimages\/2011\/gbon5.jpg\")
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