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Like pork bellies and soy beans, toys have become a commodity. For example, the going rate for a Hot Wheels USAF Thunderbird Team Volkswagen bus, still in the package $30 (US). Who in their right minds would pay that much for a die-cast toy? Lots of folks, that’s who. Being outbid for this particular item more than once at the $20 level on eBay (one of the more popular Internet auction houses) became a prime source of frustration. Fortunately, the USAF Thunderbird Barbie was within reach of Code One’s meager budget. We saved our shekels for a GhostStriker X-16, an F-16 toy that deserves top honors for originality and imagination in our toy roundup. Hasbro needs to revive this aircraft in time for the next gift-buying season.

Four seasons have passed since Code One started collecting F-16-related toys for this article. Here’s some advice for anyone attempting a similar quest: Fighting Falcons can appear in odd places. Supermarket toy aisles are prime hunting grounds for the stranger varieties. Of course, the stock at local Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, and Toys-R-Us turns over every few months, so check there often. Make use of search engines on the Internet. And never claim to have a complete collection, especially in print. Yes, we missed the Hot Wheels. We also missed an F-16 clock that plays the theme from Top Gun for an alarm. How many F-16s are in that movie anyway? Zero. But toys don’t have to make sense. They just have to be made in China.

Those keeping the Chinese F-16 builders busy take note: Licensing agreements may soon change the landscape for F-16 toys and for other commercial likenesses of other Lockheed Martin products. Companies producing die-cast F-16 fighters, for example, will pay a modest royalty to Lockheed Martin. In exchange, they will gain access to more accurate representations of the airplane to make their molds, photographs to package and market the goods, and permission to put the Lockheed Martin logo on their packaging. (Not one of the toys listed below identifies the F-16 as a Lockheed Martin product.)

So, here’s our collection, in no particular order. Members of the model shop at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems deserve special thanks for critiquing some die-cast members of our F-16 toy family. We welcome readers to submit items not found here. Just don’t tell us you got the Hot Wheels USAF Thunderbird Team Volkswagen bus for $5, still in the package, at a garage sale.

Eric Hehs, Editor of Code One