An old friend of mine
Raise your hand if you know who he is.
...and no, it's not the 43rd President of the United States, although I can see the confusion
I don't don't recall why, but I was in the midst of a comic book conversation the other day, (I know what you're thinking, "I'd really like to hang with that guy") and it got me to reminiscing...again.
It got me thinking about things like...
Prehistoric snap models
Here's an ad from a comic book
That's right. 1972's number one hobby kit. That would have put me in 2nd grade. I obviously wasn't ready for "real" models. By real I mean models with tiny pieces to lose, and took more than 20 minutes to build, and glue was involved, and actually challenged you. I wasn't having any of that. This "non handy" kids model was a perfect fit for me.
Oh, and don't forget the dinosaur angle. Dinosaurs were the bomb back in the pre Star Wars days.
If I remember correctly these models could be all grouped together because their bases interlocked, I think. I'm sure I didn't do that though. Too much commitment.
The sabre tooth tiger model was my favorite. I think it came with different sets of front legs so you could pose your tiger in whatever position was most pleasing to you.That and the one with the rhino looking beast (the rhinocersaurus?) that was trapped in the Tar Pits with a vulturish bird (the vulturdactyl?) looking on in anticipation. Please notice the torn off animal leg and the freshly ripped flesh. Solid.
I know what you're all thinking. You wish you knew me when I was eight years old.
Then there were the things that I don't think I actually ever owned, or possibly even that no one ever owned, but made you wonder...
For instance
Ten day free trial. In case you thought you wasted your dollar. I like the coffin shaped cut out that you had to fill out. Nice touch.
...and what kid didn't want their own monkey?
You couldn't even buy that suit he's wearing for $18.95. He fit in your hand for crying out loud. I wonder how they mailed it to you? Who even paid attention to the seahorse ad ? Kind of blase' compared to a suit wearing, palm sitting monkey, don't you think?
How about...
You're a Spaceman! Actually you're five minutes away from the emergency room. The earlier name of broken ankle appendages wasn't as catchy.
This pixilated image of the kid looks a lot like me at that age. A lot.
Funny, I don't remember that photo shoot...or ever holding a racoon. Could explain that episode of rabies that I vaguely remember being stricken with. Who knew that racoons were and always will be, America's favorite pet? I thought Sea Monkeys were.
I don't see any danger with this one, do you?
Do you think it actually went under water?...or did the fact that it was made out of cardboard nullify that option? I wonder if this has been decomissioned by now?
Then there were those ads where you would sell things like cards, or seeds, or drugs (just to see if you're paying attention) and you would win great prizes, or better yet, money.
How many kids opted out of this because they could only answer yes to three out of the four questions?
And I'll leave you with this..
Perhaps the fact that the Flash had Hostess fruit pies in his repertoire is what might have kept him from the upper echelon of super heroes
...but he was still my favorite.
One last thing. This was written whilst wearing x-ray specs. Those were the real McCoy.
