THE TOYS THAT BUILT AMERICA oops, sorry not scifi!

[Jeffbert]

This is one of my favorite History Channel programs, anything to help recall the childhood years.

I am especially interested in Action Figures. While this is a HASBRO GI Joe, he is wearing a MARX made STONEY helmet.

The HASBRO helmets were poly styrene plastic, and had elastic chin straps, while the MARX ones were somewhat soft and had those two slots for the chin strap. So, in the details of the episode, G.I. Joe was credited for starting the action figure thing.

Anyway, season 3, episode #1 was about Transformers vs. Gobots. Both were imported from Japan. Hasbro's Transformers, but TONKA made GOBOTS. Who'd thought that? Hasbro eventually bought Tonka, and those trucks are now made of plastic. The original Japanese toys lacked the back stories that are all-important to the Western ones. Interesting, but not fascinating.


So NETFLIX also has a series on toys, but neither one does an acceptable coverage of action figures, specifically G.I. Joes. I still have a few left from childhood.

S1, #02, CLASH OF TOY TITANS, had the initial coverage of G.I. Joe, with this image:

But, again, there is an inconsistency! American soldier with a German sub machinegun!

So, anyway, both History Channel & NETFLIX give scant coverage to the original 12 inch tall G.I. Joes, and spend the bulk of coverage on the 3.75 inch figures. I guess the back stories made all the difference. Plus the different faces, names, etc. I recall having trouble naming mine. Fearful of criticisms, "what a dumb name!" I can recall the other kid's name for his Avalon Hill or whatever Western quick draw board game, Spike McNab. Now that is cool! Cannot recall my character's name. Neither that, nor Dungeons and Dragons. The other kid's CB handle was The Dragon Master. Cool!

 

[BAYLOR]

They been doing alot of topics food that made America , The one with the games and topsy is not less fascinating

 

[Robert Zwilling]

A.C. GILBERT, THE MAN WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS (AND INVENTED THE ERECTOR SET)


In late October 1918, he brought a satchel full of educational toys to Washington, D.C., and let a room full of Cabinet secretaries play with them.

 

[Jeffbert]

Oh, I watched all of them, but the 2 newest ones. There was also MECANNO, not sure if that was before ERRECTOR, but was very similar.

So, anyway, found it very interesting about the origins of PLAY-DOY. Not at all interested in the ETCH-A-SKETCH. No fun with just one hand.

Coca-Cola gave us the Santa Claus we know so well. Now, that was interesting!

Also, recall the origin of TRIVIAL PURSUIT. The guy just copied from a trivia dictionary.

 

[Robert Zwilling]

Mecanno was first, 1898 by Frank Hornby in England. In 2000 Erector and Mecanno merged. They make STEM kits. Some of their kits don't need batteries. They have a 2 foot tall robot for a couple of hundred dollars, uses speech recognition to interact. Non rechargeable batteries only last 15 minutes. Makes you wonder how long the big robots during serious work last before needing fresh batteries.

 

[Pyan]

The Erector Set was a complete rip-off of Frank Hornby's Meccano, first patented in 1901. Hornby allegedly had an agreement with A.C. Gilbert to import Meccano sets into the U.S. for distribution.
Less than three years later, Gilbert had founded and launched Erector. Gilbert is said to have actually distributed Meccano sets in the early years, which just raises the possibility he used the profits to fund his 'own' system, copied almost part for part from Meccano.

 

[Jeffbert]

Still, with just 1 hand, I was able to manage nuts, bolts, etc., just was not too good at it. Like LEGO much better!