Shogun Warriors

Back in the Christmas of 1977  I went with my parents to the mall to ask Santa Claus what I wanted for Christmas.  I sat in his lap and told him exactly what I wanted,  A Shogun Warrior!  I distincly remember telling him I wanted "Gaiking" but would've been happy with any of them.  I was sure to tell my parents just what I told Santa, mainly because I was already hip to the Santa gig.

Later that Christmas I notice an oblong christmas package with my name on it and knew exactly what it was.  I tore it open only to find "Raideen" (aka Reideen and Raydeen) Shogun Warrior on the cover.  I wasn't disappointed, in fact I had mixed up the names and thought Raideen was Gaiking.  No matter, I ripped open the package and put all of the sticker decals on him and he was ready to play with!

If you're not familiar with The Shogun Warriors, they are giant robots with human pilots who fight monsters and save humanity.  Based on various animated series (mostly by Go Nagai) that were collected and presented in the U.S. as "Force Five".  It had a very short run here but Marvel Comics picked up the series and ran it for 19 issues.

The toys were really cool, many of them had spring action missiles and spring action fits to knock down the bad guys.  It also knocks down baby brothers which I found out gets you in trouble.  The only bad guy that Mattel got around to making was Godzilla, I eventually got him for my birthday the following year.

Over the years I've seemed to have lost them somehow, I'm not sure how you can lose two 2 ft. high robots but I did.  At one time I had a Raideen coloring book, and I've since bought "Mazinga" and "Gaiking" and other memorabilia like Shogun Warrior Colorforms, Comics, Models and some Raideen Children's Board Books (in Japanese).  It's a series that still captures my imagination today.

Kenner Stretch Armstrong & Stretch Monster

Who can forget Stretch Armstrong and his enemy Stretch Monster? They still make these, I believe.. I had both of these dolls sometime between 1976 and 1980. That's the actual timeline for production of this toy... '76-'80. The original ones, I mean, shown here.  I was anywhere from 6 to 10 years old. More than once too, since, after only a few weeks of abuse at the hands of me and my brothers, the rubber skin of these dolls would eventually rip open and out would seep a red gooey substance... gelled corn syrup . The wound usually started as a pin hole, or a small tear, and with continual stretching would get worse, and tear open more, until the gel was leaking out and the doll was junk. We never could figure out a way to repair one of these things, despite following the repair instructions that came with it. I remember the doll getting so stretched out and the syrup so hardened up over time that we couldn't get it back to it's original shape. So we just threw the doll out and would get another one. I've had at least two of each (Armstrong, and Monster). I got mine for Christmas. I do remember that.

The monster was the one I remember being fascinated with the very most. He looked awesome!. His green rubber skin was textured with scales... and just look at that face. I believe he was a favorite toy of mine for awhile. Because he really stands stronger in my memory than Armstrong.

These dolls would stiffen up when cold, or with age, and if you submersed them in warm water, it would soften them up again. I remember it being a heavy toy (as a kid) and a good toy to strangle someone with, as we were always stretching their arms and legs to great lengths and then tying the limbs around our necks.

There's an entire website devoted to the classic stretch figures, called "Stretch Armstrong World". Plaid Stallions has some cool Stretch Armstrong material also.

 

"It's A Leaping And Laughing Frog Giggle Riot"

I remembered this game from childhood, but couldn't remember its name. After hunting around online, I discovered that, easily enough, it was called "LeapFrogs" (one word). Surprisingly, info on this old game was sort of hard to find. It seems to be one of the forgotten ones. In my searching, I discovered that it was a product of the old Schaper Toy Company, the same company that produced the childhood classic games "Cooties", "Ants In The Pants", and "Don't Break The Ice".

LeapFrogs was first manufactured in 1978 (when I was 8 years old). I have no idea how many years it was in production, but I had one of these around that time.

The game was made for up to four players, ages 5 and up, and the object of this game was, simply enough, for players to catch leaping plastic frogs into small yellow nets (they look like fisherman's nets to me).

The game came with a sheet of stickers that you had to apply yourself. I remember this being a pretty common thing back then, and the stickers rarely stayed on, eventually peeling at a corner and curling up. There was a sticker for each corner of the "board", and one for the underside of each green plastic frog (of which there were ten). The frog stickers were numbers. I don't recall how high the numbers went... maybe up to 4. I do not remember. I believe the pond sticker, on the game board's turntable, may have been applied already at the factory, but my memory is foggy on that.

The game required no batteries (a bonus for parents). It had an "on/off" switch, and with the game switched to "off", you would wind-up the turntable by turning the big red knob in the center, clockwise until it could turn no more. You would then push in the little spring-loaded platforms on the turntable. When pushed in, and with a slight turn, they would stay down, so you could place a frog in each "well" (I'm sure this is all making sense). Once all of the frogs were placed in the wells, players would pick up their nets, sit at each corner of the game board, turn the switch to "on", and watch the turntable slowly spin as, one by one, at random (maybe), the spring-loaded platforms would pop up sending frogs flying into the air. Players would catch the frogs in their nets. I remember the game being kind of noisy. It made a buzzing sound or a fast clicking sound, as it turned, much like the sound the game "Perfection" makes.

There were two ways to play. You could add up the numbers on the underside of the frogs that you caught in your net, or you could simply count up the number of frogs you caught. Either way, you played over and over, until the first player with 30 points total wins the game. Simple... probably easy for an adult... but to an 8 year old, it was a lot of fun. A leaping and laughing frog giggle riot.

A later version of LeapFrogs

In my searches I discovered a more recent version of LeapFrogs, which looks somewhat different. I have no idea when it was in production, and who produced it, as Schaper was sold to Tyco Toys (a division of Mattel) around 1986. Tyco eventually sold off four different Schaper games to The Milton Bradley Company, but I have no idea if this was one of them. It may have been sold to a different company.

Newspaper Ad from Nov. 1979

I don't know whatever happened to my own LeapFrogs game. These are not my photos. It most likely ended up in a garage sale for $2 or some-such, minus a few frogs. I recall using one of them as a mini in a Dungeons & Dragons game once. In 1978 the game went for around $12.

"The Empire Strikes Back" Read-Along Record - 1980

In February of 1980, I turned ten years old.  Three months later, “The Empire Strikes Back” was released in theaters for the first time.  I was already way into “Star Wars”, and my best friend’s mom took he and I to see the new movie. They lived right next door, and he (Shawn) was a couple of years younger than me. Not that that has anything to do with anything, but he was one of my “Star Wars” buddies. I believe most kids at that time were into the “Star Wars” craze. Saturday morning cartoon breaks were riddled with commercials for the latest "Star Wars" toys... so like a lot of kids, I had a lot of "Star Wars" merchandise.

In this post I recall a particular “Star Wars” item from my memory, which I had nearly forgotten about -- a read-along record of "The Empire Strikes Back". There’s no particular reason I remember this thing… no great tale to tell. Just having a flashback here, to a time before there was a trilogy... before there was VHS or DVDs... before there was cable TV... before there was an internet... and Yoda and Tauntauns were still pretty new to me.

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

So it’s 1980. I’m ten years old, sitting on my bedroom floor (of sky blue carpet), indian-style, in front of a small blue portable record player (see Exhibit A.)... it might even be around Christmas-time... listening to a small record I just got, while reading an equally small booklet that accompanies it (see Exhibit B.). There’s probably even a plush Chewbacca lying somewhere nearby.  "Big deal.", you might say. Well, this is how kids, at that time, got to experience the movie, over and over again (aside from going to the theater, over and over again). You could experience it at home, in about 15 minutes time, depending on how long it took you to flip the record over.

   

I don't think I have seen nor heard this record since I was ten. Funny, listening to it now (through the video below)... it probably never occurred to me (in 1980), that the voices were not the actors from the film. The voice-overs are not too far off, as far as sounding similar to the actors... although Han is a little over-the-top. I remember the scene of Vader’s confession giving me the shivers. How dramatic! C’mon... I was ten.

And here it is, in its entirety (Side A and Side B)… “The Empire Strikes Back” (sort of), executed in 15-16 minutes. Although this is a cassette version, the booklet images and the audio are identical to the 1980 product.

These are not my videos, but the memory is.

“The Empire Strikes Back” Read-Along Record - Side A  

“The Empire Strikes Back” Read-Along Record – Side B 

Eagle Force

I remember seeing this commercial on T.V. and getting excited by this new line of G.I. Joe alternative toys. I loved the fact that they were metal and heavy for their size. Unfortunately the scale of the figures made them difficult to mix with other figures and stepping on one barefoot in the middle of the night could cause considerable injury (Man were their feet sharp!) I remember buying General Mamba, Shock Trooper and Captain Eagle with my lawn mowing money. They got some play for a while but soon ended up at the bottom of the toy box. I still have the figures minus their weapons. This would be Mego's last hurrah because the company folded the same year Eagle Force was released. Here's more information on the Mego Museum website.

M.U.S.L.E. (Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere)

These figures were my favorite! They came in packs of 4, packs of 10 (came in a transparent garbage can), and the big 28 box! I remember going to Toys R Us and getting a free promo poster that had every figure on it with a check box next to it. My brother bought the wrestling ring, but the pegs that held up the figures broke within a week or so.

These were a lot of fun to play with. I remember my friends and I came up with a paper and dice game based around the figures. We'd five them special power moves and attributes.

There was a NES game based on the characters, but I remember it was pretty terrible.

M.U.S.L.E. was originally based on a manga series called Kinnikuman!