I'm sure others around my age can relate but I have started to think of the things I could get as a little kid and then could not obtain at all. I am speaking of items like shooting missiles and "Slime". When I was under the age 5 or 6 everything had shooting something or another. I especially remember my Jumbos and those flying fists. Slime came in garbage pails and often had bugs or worms in it. Thanks to lawyers both went off the market for quite a while. It was devastating to obtain the newest toy only to push the release button and have the projectile fall limply to the floor like so many geriatrics before Viagra. The urban legends I heard were that some kid had stuck his Cylon Raider in his mouth and fired the missile into his throat and subsequently choked to death, leading to lawsuits and a lack of springs. Some other brilliant lad apparently ate like 3 mini garbage pails of slime and met his maker with green ooze still wetting his lips. If you are related to either of these fine individuals, my apologies but thanks to these geniuses and a bunch of suits I had to grow up sans these wonderful toy innovations. I remember Nickelodeon brought back Slime but the firing missiles didn't make a return till after my parents insisted I was to old for toys.
My buddy Brian had a post-litigation Cylon ship. The missiles didn't actually leave the craft - you could push the missile in, cocking it as it were, but when you pressed the button you heard a click but the red rocket just sort of poited forward a bit, like a nipple in the wind.
I had this as well as the Sewer playset. I received a TMNT camera for my birthday one year, and it would leave a little ninja-turtle face stamped in the corner of your photos. I would set the toys up with the van & the playset like dioramas & action scenes, then take a photo of it with the camera. I wish I still had the camera, or the photos, but at least I still take pics of my toys
I had the Battle Cruiser. Or rather, my brother and I had the Battle Cruiser. We got if for Christmas one year and for a toy this size, we had to share. Looking at that Micronauts catalog, I can say there were a whole lot of things I wanted in there, but what I wanted most but never got were Baron Karza, Force Commander and their horses. They were so heavy and the magnetic interchangeable parts just blew my mind.
Damn, I'm not familiar with the Van w/pizzashooter - I had the regular van pictured a couple posts above, and I also had a weird pizza-shooting tank. They were solid plastic pucks with a pizza-topping sticker on top - way better than the light aerodynamic discs other toys/guns shot. You don't even know how many animals / people I shot with pizzas as a kid
I wanted this thing SOOOO bad! A friend of mine got this for xmas one year and I remember he used it as a bed for weeks afterwards because he just couldn't be away from it for that long.
I bought just the landing deck from a garage sale a few blocks away from me as a kid... might not have been complete but it was pretty awesome in the back yard.
Wow, you guys must have been blown away when you unwrapped that present. Never realized the Baron ect had magnetic parts. Wouldn't mind trying to locate one.
I kid you not when I say there is a box at my Mom's house where there are maybe 2 sets of these unopened. My Mom likes to shop and buys things on sale with the idea of giving them out as Xmas gifts in the future...which she ends up not doing. So there are lots of old unopened toys over at her place. I came across several boxes of Laser Tag guns not too long ago...lol.
^^^ That's so awesome that your mom absently hoards toys! It's a refreshing counterpoint to the much more standard story of remembering the day your parents tossed out your comics and matchbox cars.
That rocks hard!! Send me your address and I'll be over in a jiffy! When I was younger my mom also did a very similar thing, so we had a 'gift box' that had random stuff she could give as thank you gifts or for us to have for birthday presents for our friends. You have to admire that kind of foresight. Alas, there are no grails hidden anymore, the only toys left over from these days (and it is pretty telling that I know exactly) are two carded DnD figures, which have taken a thrashing in the 7 or so moves since they were acquired. I distinctly recall pulling these out time and time again whenever 'the box' came out so I could to admire them. It's like having a toy store with something just out of your reach. Still, it is somehow comforting to know that they are still hanging around there somewhere.
My 40 yr old brother has a giant Battlestar Galactica launcher that fires five inch vipers at foam Cylon Raiders MIB that he never lets see the light off day and he has a Space 1999 EAGLE for the 12" dolls that the box alone is bigger than my 4 year old and although I've never seen it out of its box I bet that thing is HOOOOGE! Bastard. Never let me play with his cool stuff when we were young either.
I wanted the mountain set so bad, I mean it was a normal gas station, who's sign ended up popping out gun turrets, and there was a boulder that rolled off the mountain where a seat with a cannon had been hidden underneath... I ended up getting it and everything in this photo at a series of garage sales, for like 15 bucks, when the previous owner got sick of having fun... (I was still a little kid, so years of play was had) It makes me wonder what Japan would have been like as a child, if they had garage sales... Are garage sales typically an American thing?
Wow Matty, try to get some pics next time you visit. Space 1999 eagle that fits 12" dolls sounds awesome.
I dropped by my Mom's and these were two items that were on top. A few years ago I was looking for something in the garage and came across some of the toy boxes. I pulled these two out before putting everything back. When I have more time I will have to go dig deeper. An original 1983 issued model (not one of the subsequent re-issues) still shrink wrapped.....lol.
Whoa. That's Awesome! I wanted that Force Commander so much as a kid. I had the Baron Karza and Andromeda, but could never find the Force Commander for some reason.
This must be one of my favourite threads I've seen pop up lately so here are my two cents. I had many grails back then, split between toys that were released in the UK and Italy. The main I remember besides anything Micronauts were Stretch Monster (from the Stretch Armstrong series): Stretch Monster by Rudebeast, on Flickr I had one of these, loved it and would like to find one at a decent price nowadays. Here another guy I unfortunately missed on (but really wanted): Kenner Bionic Bigfoot by Rudebeast, on Flickr
I sold one last year on here, with regret. Funfact the orig bionic bigfoot was played by Andre the Giant
My God, what great stuff, guys! Talk about "grail as adult". I'd give anything to have the Micronauts Battle Cruiser, Baron Karza & Andromeda, & Hornetroid today. I played with that stuff for so many hours. I never did get the GI Joe USS Flagg but the Skystriker F-14 was my grail. Don't know how many weeks and stores my parents to me to looking for it. Finally got it for Xmas that year (1985-6?). It's hanging in my son's bedroom now along with the original Cobra Rattler.
