During the Nineties here in the UK I went to a Sunday car boot sale every week. Reflecting the period's grown-up kids back then, there were always stacks of toys from the Eighties like Thundercats, Masters of the Universe and my personal favourite finds, Ghostbusters. There were always plenty of ECTO-1's, Fire Houses and Proton Packs around just lying around for the taking! Ah, those were the days!
However there were some toys which turned up all the time, which, being a beginner, I simply didn't recognise. Only later when I subscribed to magazines and bought reference books did I find out what they were. First up and one I found a lot was a strange plastic robot with a suction cup base, bendy arms and waist. It is of course from the Robo Force range released by Ideal in 1984 and the one I found all the time was the yellow and black Wrecker. Here's a piccy of Wrecker I saw on Ebay.
Another small robot toy I used to see constantly at boot sales was this little fellow. At the time he was a complete mystery to me. Initially I thought he must have been some sort of R2D2 clone, with his domed head, antenna-like arms and the three wheels. He even recalled my old Minibot I had as a kid in the Sixties. Much later, armed with books, I learnt that he is indeed T-Bob from the MASK toy line. T-Bob was apparently short for Thingamabob! [Wiki] and was part of the first series of MASK toys released by Kenner way back in 1985. He could even be converted into a scooter! Now R2D2 couldn't do that!
Last but not least, here's a small plastic vehicle I found constantly at those early 90's sales. It reminded me of T-Bob, especially if I found them in the same box of assorted junk under a table! I later identified it as the Multi Terrain Vehicle MTV-7, one of the Mini Rigs from Kenner's Return of the Jedi toy range released in 1981.
Which toys did you used to stumble across a lot at boot sales and flea markets?
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