When I was heavilly into getting as many old toys into my old stock room as possible years ago I often took in bundles of plastic action figures and vehicles. They all found a temporary home on my cellar shelves.
Besides the big hitters like He-Man and Ninja Turtles, there was a whole gamut of characters in the 80's and 90's whose TV shows I never saw: Voltron, VR Troopers, MASK, Mighty Max, James Bond Junior, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Air Raiders, Street Sharks, Bionic Six and Bucky 'O' Hare.
I also got a line called Toxic Crusaders in now and then. They were garish yellow and green hunks of plastic straight from the town's toxic dump! I'd never seen the TV show - if indeed there was one - or the kids' movie.
I was surprised to see Toxic Crusader toys to be honest. I'd heard of a horror film called The Toxic Avenger, which was rated 18, which can't have suitable for children. Yet it was a craze.
The whole Toxic craze was part of a movie sub-genre popular back in the 80's called Body Melt, which was basically about what it says. Notable melters included Street Trash, Nuke 'Em High, the Incredible Melting Man, the Blob re-make, the Toxic Avenger and the flick that gave us the name, Body Melt.
Being a fan of old horror I managed to plug a gap the other night and caught the Toxic Avenger for the first time. Most definately not for kids the Avenger himself was indeed the same as the plastic toy character I used to get in stock now and then, the Toxic Crusader. I was amazed.
The film company, those masters of schlock, Troma, must have made a kids' version of the film and cut a deal to licence the figures! Messy!
Did you have any Toxic Crusaders toys? Any pictures of them?
Too recent for me, however got now a couple of NOS Apocalypse Attackcopters, from an old store stock. I guess they were not too big a phenomenon in Finland at the time and went largely unsold.
ReplyDeleteThey sound fun Arto. Send us some snaps when you get chance. Ta.
DeleteAnd, the Toxic Aveger was partly filmed in...you guessed it,NEW JERSEY!Lloyd Kaufman of Tromaville is regularly on hand at the Monstermania con that I attended recently.I have a single Toxic Crusaders figure,if I can dig it up, I'll send a pic.
ReplyDeleteAnd Lloyd was in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 so in a convoluted way, Troma might be considered part of the official MCU!
DeleteGot the pic Bri ta. I should have known NJ was involved somewhere in the story of Tromaville! Its the Monster State!
DeleteI have a Toxie from Toxic Crusaders off in a storage box somewhere. I happen to love the first couple of movies and was quite taken aback by how much they changed up the concept to make it into a kid (and environment) friendly show. It was better than I thought it would be. I'd rank it just below Attack of the Killer Tomatoes cartoon on my top 10 weird cartoon shows aimed at kids.
ReplyDeleteWow, so it became a kids' cartoon show! That's unbelievable Lance. I will have to watch it!
Delete