Reading Richard's enthusiasm for aquatic toys, I thought I'd have a look at a few. I suppose I have to start with my old mate the Billy Blastoff Frogman. How I loved this little fella, who often joined me for soapy adventures in the bath! Eldon's accessories were just wonderful: mask, a little boat and my personal favourite, Bill's own underwater camera, which, powered by his trusty battery backpack, lit up my rubber duck's bum from beneath! ha ha!
Scuba Billy's big brother often joined him on longer expeditions. I am of course referring to that frogman extraordinaire of the toy world, my spelunker of choice, the Action Man Frogman. Again Palitoy left nothing to chance and garnished the set with fab accessories like a dagger and sheath, a watch, beautiful silver air tanks and my own favourite, his orange candle grenades. These cute munitions were often placed strategically around the Palitoy shark which terrorised our bath times. Happy days!
Action Man Frogman and Billy were often joined by Action Man Deep Sea Diver and Jungle Explorer with his bright outboard-motored orange raft. However there was a group of ace American aquanauts who never made it to my house and may in fact have stayed clear of a lot of UK households owing to their relative scarcity [I may be wrong]. I am speaking about the brilliant looking Sea Devils by Mattel released onto bath times in 1970. Not to be confused with the Dr.Who monsters of the same name, they were like Major Matt Mason underwater. Made of wired bendable rubber, the Sea Devils had tons of accessories and fab vehicles. There's still a place near my soap dish for a Mattel Sea Devil!
My final instalment is another toy range I never had at the time, largely because I was too old. I would have loved them as a kid and they fitted right into my world view back in the Sixties. I am talking about the BHS Explorer 12 Ocean series. A bit like SpaceX, divided into different mini-fleets, the Ocean crew had their own vehicles, figures and book, which appears here courtesy of Joe Lang's uber-cool fan site.
What are fave underwater toys readers? Do they compare with space toys?
Yeah, the Sea Devils were the stuff! One thing that distinguished the line was that all the items were designed to be submerged; the figures and battery powered vehicles and accessories could be used in tub or pool without harming them. The figures had less articulation and much more limited movement than the Major Matt Mason line.
ReplyDelete(I am quite certain at some point I devised a story in which the Major had to enlist the help of Commander Carter to retrieve a space probe after a misguided splashdown in a deep sea trench...)
The feet of the aquanauts tended to be the weak spot -- the Achilles heel, if you will -- as they were the part bent back and forth most often from a standing position to a swimming position with the removable flippers.
I had one of those divers that went up and down as tablets that you placed in his tank dissolved. I also had the clockwork 'Sea Wolf' submarine.
ReplyDeleteUnderwater toys always went hand in hand with my space toys and still do.
ReplyDeleteI had the original 12" G.I. Joe's as a kid to include the scuba diver and batt op undersea sled. It was sooooo cool!
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