Hey,
in the last days, I remembered an old toy I once had, but I can't for heavens sake remember what it was called or which company built it. I live in Germany, but perhaps it was known in other countries as well.
It was a model of a gas station and a volcano (or a mountain) beside it. There was a road, too, I guess. The idea was that you could transform the gas station and the volcano into some kind of military base. The gas pumps would turn into turrets, and the top of the volcano would transform into some dome with machine guns all around. There were several small cars you could buy, but I don't remember them well. I don't think it was part of Micro Machines or Matchbox franchise, but I could be wrong here. Any idea what I'm talking about? Any pictures? I just can't find out what it was.
Do you still have any children's toys? Do you find yourself playing with your kid's LEGO fortress? Disuss :D
a friend of mine once had little dolls that you could turn upside down and lift their skirts and they looked like cupcakes.
Their underwear even smelt of cupcakes.. which didnt seem weird to me at the time...
I remember small car platforms, like puzzle pieces you could add to each other. Every piece was at around 10x10cm and had a road in front and a building there. I had a pizzaplace with a ramp and a gas station with some ramp stuff too, I guess... But I don't believe they were micro machines, the cars were much more plain and less well done like, white and orange with a coloured stripe going from the hood to the roof to the trunk. Once you put the pieces together you could drive from one to another via the road there. I don't remember if you could change them or anything, so I'm not sure they were the same.
Most of my toys are still there back home. And as I have a little brother who's 10 and a little sister who's 8, we often play with our old legos, matchbox-autos... turtles action figures no more, they're too old for them, but they're still there somewhere :)
M.A.S.K!!
(http://www.albertpenello.com/mask/bhillsm1.jpg)
I used to love M.A.S.K... I can still sing the theme-song!
edit - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh11NDMHVl0&feature=related
So nostalgic!! Spectrum's got such super vision!!
Muh Muh Muh MASK!
Always riding on venom's tray-ay-ail!
Quote from: Calin Leafshade on Tue 03/08/2010 21:47:38
Their underwear even smelt of cupcakes.. which didnt seem weird to me at the time...
Woah, I sense a potential sig quote
@Darth: That's it! Strangely, I don't remember M.A.S.K. at all. But that's it. Thanks :D
It was called M.A.S.K here in the states 'cause it was an acronym for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand which I'm sure doesn't translate into German the same way! It was probably called something else there which would explain why you don't remember it!
I tried wikipedia to find what it was referred to in Germany but couldn't seem to locate the information
Anyone remember this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCpMl8UK1SY
It's kinda dark for a kids cartoon.
It was apparently shown briefly on German TV during the summer of 1987 under the title M.A.S.K. - Die Masken, and there was also a German comic book version as far as I can tell (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.A.S.K.).
MASK was massive in France, there was an avalanche of US merchandising toys. I had some of the second "mask" generation, after they pimped up the vehicles (with the missiles-luncher truck carrying a formula one), while my neighbour had some of the first generation (Venom's helicopter and that-guy's bike). Hours of fun! I still have them in my parent's house somehwere.
(http://www.virtualtoychest.co.uk/m/mask/Goliath.jpg)
About the "Spiral zone", it was a strange cartoon with no real background, just guys fighting in a futuristic world/dimension. For some reason, the crappy French opening (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bblm30ydHT4) was imprinted forever in my brain (lyrics, music and all), as well as the monobikes, while I hated the rest of it.
M.A.S.K. was badass. It was like Transformers meets GI Joe.
Those were the days of the good GI Joe action figures too. The ones with reliable metal joints.
The best playsets I remember: Ewok village, Ninja Turtle Sewer/ Tetradome, Gi Joe Rolling Thunder / Cobra Terrordrome / Aircraft carrier / Shuttle, Wayne Manor / Batcave (there's been tons of them now)
of the ones I owned, I had the most adventures with this:
(http://www.panelsonpages.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/rollingthunder_box.jpg)
Somehow I never got to play with this: :(
(http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/wishbook/ussflagg.jpg)
Looks like it could engage your imagination, but honestly it looks a little boring. Did anybody else have that one friend with a GI Joe room? But he never let you play with them without overseeing your every move? In fact he would realize the toy you pick up is the one he wants to play with most? EVERY TIME?
All the kids in my neighbourhood had watched Voltron and kept talking about GI Joe in school. Then I talked about this:
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fJjSJ-eFFmw/SPRo7LSUa-I/AAAAAAAAAQ4/4JNtCnrA7EE/s320/Star_Sheriffs_Saber_Rider.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvsJaIUZb5s (The reason I got my guitar lies on 0:38)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy-H-KJRYbw (Long Version!)
It still blows my mind to the day!!
Some of you may remember this great one too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NpgsUOKQs8 (POLE POSITION!)
Also people great EPIC. Yeah, we've all seen it, eah, but shut up :
ROBO-TECH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VmsDHfvI0s
Holy fuck Dualnames. Thank you soooooo much for reminding me of Saber Rider!! I used to rock out to that theme song as a kid..
(http://www.vegatransports.com.au/2001/thunderbirds/tbs1.jpg)
I <3'd this. A few years ago when I worked in the co-op they had a bunch of them randomly found at the back of a warehouse, was so tempting...
Quote from: Mr Jake on Wed 18/08/2010 20:51:42
(http://www.vegatransports.com.au/2001/thunderbirds/tbs1.jpg)
I <3'd this. A few years ago when I worked in the co-op they had a bunch of them randomly found at the back of a warehouse, was so tempting...
Then Blue Peter did an awesome DIY ripoff :D
(http://www.bobthebrit.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/blue-peter-tracey-island.jpg)
Anyone remember micro machines? :D
(http://marvmackey.com/Micro%20Machines%20%283%29.jpg)
Yes, nostalgia levels hit red already.
But I still can cringe at every single cartoon of back then (and the toys), when I see them today! Yikes they were ugly, very premature, etc... Yikes!
Oh wow, Phemar. I had that same Micro Machines box. Lots of those cars seem to be the same as what I had too!
Damn those things were fun! Those and G.I. Joes; the small ones with the elastic waist and completely jointed limbs.
Cool. I must put on my nostalgia goggles!
It's weird, but I remember M.A.S.K. very clearly. Sadly, I never owned any of the toys (I was too old for toys when they came out in the mid 80s -- I was twelve or thirteen, I think). But one of my friend's kid brother had a bunch of them. Even though I was far too cool to say so at the time, I remember thinking that they were far more awesome than the rather clunky early generation Star Wars toys I had when I was little. I remember the big purple truck very fondly. That thing had a rocket launcher hidden in the sleeper cab that would shoot across the room.
In fact, I remembered it fondly enough to put it in a Barn Runner game!
(http://www.barnrunner.com/pics/misc/MASK_Egg.PNG)
There it is. Its name escapes me at the moment, but it's there next to Jack Burton's "Pork Chop Express". The big red rig from B. J. and the Bear is parked on the other side of the player's car.
Ah, memories. Thanks for them and all that. :D
- Ponch
__________
(That kid also had the G.I. Joe aircraft carrier. Man, I remember that thing being as big as a sofa!)
Aww, Saber rider...the simpler times. We used to play in the park (when I was in kindergarden), I was either Colt or Michaelangelo (depending on what
show was the night before). ;D
It's amazing how product placement provided memories for more than a few generations. Also how amazing is the creativity that went into all of
it...only to have episodes have the same structure every freakin' time.
Being basically behind the curtain (well sort of a transition time when it all started falling apart) got some mixed stuff in. We had some stuff that we
didn't know had tv shows and vice versa. Maybe someone went to Italy or Germany and then got exotic toys and everybody envied them. Playmobile
and LEGOs were all the rage.
Later GI Joe (nobody knew there was a cartoon series, we just bought toys). Transformers were very rare (although the show was known. Ninja turtles
(and a lot of other stuff) was synched, but the voices were pretty good, especially comapred to now, when they have almost no character.
There was a children part of the program on one of the channels, they basically had most of the show in early 90ies. I remember Muppet babies, Looney
tunes, Smurfs, Little flying bears, Bluffers, He-Man (damn, I still have a drawer full of toys, I even had the tiger), Saber rider, MASK, must not forget Ewoks...
I had a box full of Hot Rods and copies, some Micro machines.
Soon people got satelite dishes and also Cartoon network with it. Don't remember a lot of the shows, mostly Captain planet was always watched. Later
Swat kats and Mighty Max, Bettlejuice animated series.