Did vintage toys fare well in the baths of our youth?
What about Action Man? Did his joints loosen after lengthy dunkings?
What about a toy made for bathtime like the Billy Blastoff frogman? Did Billy stay intact or was it a bad idea by Eldon?
I never had any Sea Devils but they look like they could spear a rubber duck no problem. But were their aquatic credentials all Mattel marketing spin? Did they live for the water?
What's your experience of bath toys readers?
My GI Joe never made it into the bath but he did take many a deep dive in a friend's pool. That never seemed to have hurt his joints, elastic or voice box. I've still got him, a talking action pilot and he's in great shape.
ReplyDeleteI had a sea devils set but seem to recall the helmet and air tanks having issues staying on and they had this weird hunching of the shoulders that just was off putting. I know their wires broke way quicker than my MMM crew.
Most of the toys that made it to bathtub time were my small fleet of boatariffic, and a duo of deep sea action consisting of a yellow plastic frogman with black removable tank to put in the baking soda and a yellow submarine that the sail removed to add baking soda to (both from the same company). Oh and there the enemy submarine, some hulking grey beast with a turnable prop that made the two yellow "polaris" missles launch from just behind the sail.
That's stamina Lance if Joe's still talking too after so many dives. Interesting that the Sea Devils wires were weaker than the Major's. Were the Devils meant to be earth-based or were they swimming off-world? Baking soda toys sound very familiar but I just can't form the memory! Its just foam! I can't believe that you could launch Polaris missiles from the bath! What was the target?
DeleteFound a pic http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/rBwAAOSwLF1YBr-f/s-l400.jpg This is the grey submarine although mine had yellow missles. There was a heavy spring inside each missle and shoving it down hard made it lock in place. Twisting the prop left or right would launch one missle then the other. I don't recall the range but wasn't much, maybe a foot. The small angled tube at the rear of the missle tubes is to place a small toothpick sized piece of wood with a flag on it.
DeleteTo my knowledge the sea devils were based here on earth. Another off putting (to me) bit was you could removed their helmet/mask but they always had the wetsuit hood over most of their head. In fact the face was just a face plate and the rest of the head was the hood. This is the set I had http://www.plaidstallions.com/mattel/seadevils5.jpg The sea sled motor could be attached under the trike wheeled vehicle to make it like a boat. Arm power to make it roll on land but the wheels on mine hated to turn.
That is a formidable grey beast of a sub Lance. It looks great. The big red button is menacing - or is that the missile! Lordy! I love the idea of firing toothpicks with flags on too! Teeth beware!
DeleteThe Sea Devils do look cool despite obvious shortcomings compared to the vast MMM range. I'd love to find some at a market or second hand sale but I'm not sure how many devils there were in the UK. In decades of rummaging through junk I've never come across anything from Sea Devils. I notice that the bellows on the air tank are the same as those on MMMM's Callisto string gun aren't they. The box art looks fabulous!
Ha boats, submarines etc. at bath time. In particular remember a submarine and diver who would sink if you sucked on a tube (-had to be careful not to drink the bath water!) and a James Bond frogman set with a diver and small propulsion unit.
ReplyDeleteha ha, slurping bath water! Yuk! I remember that toy Andy. I reckon its still available, a classic. Don't recall that 007 set but the propulsion unti sounds ace. Wonder who made that?
DeleteYep, I had the clockwork Sea Wolf submarine which dived and surfaced as it drove along (due to buoyancy and downward facing hydroplanes!). I've got one now and it still works fine.
ReplyDeleteNow that's a clever toy. It's metal isn't it Kevin? Wll you be playing with ot on the bath this weekend? ha ha. Thanks for the pics. To be posted asap.
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